SEPARATION OF FOOD-RELATED BIOGENIC-AMINES BY ION-INTERACTION REVERSED-PHASE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY - TYRAMINE, HISTAMINE, 2-PHENYLETHYLAMINE, TRYPTAMINE AND PRECURSOR AMINO-ACIDS - APPLICATION TO RED WINE

Methods for the separation of food-related biogenic amines (histamine, tyramine, 2-phenylethylamine and tryptamine) have been developed based on ion-interaction reversed-phase liquid chromatography. Two different interaction reagents have been comparatively used, namely octylamine ortho-phosphate (at wavelengths of 230, 254 and 280 nm) and octylamine salicylate (at a wavelength of 254 nm). The different elution sequence orders shown by the investigated amines for the two reagents are discussed and compared. The detection limits obtained were 20 ppb for tryptamine (lambda = 280 nm), 500 ppb for 2-phenylethylamine (lambda = 254 nm), 400 ppb for tyramine (lambda = 230 or 280 nm) and 900 ppb for histamine (lambda = 230 nm). The method was applied to the analysis of a five years old Italian red wine, in which 2-phenylethylamine (at a concentration of 72 +/- 3 ppm) and tryptamine (at a concentration of 4.0 +/- 0.3 ppm) were found to be present.