Simultaneous Determination of Eight Typical Biogenic Amines by CZE with Capacitively Coupled Contactless Conductivity Detection

A novel method has been developed for simultaneous determination of eight typical biogenic amines (BAs) based on CZE with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CZE–C4D). On-column C4D was used for direct quantification of these nonUV-absorbing amine compounds without derivatization. The effects of various experimental factors on separation and detection were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, spermine, spermidine, histamine, putrescine, cadaver, β-phenylethylamine, tyramine, and tryptamine can be well separated within 24 min at the separation voltage of 16 kV in 150 mmol L−1 18-crown-6/500 mmol L−1 acetic acid running buffer, and the excitation voltage and frequency of C4D were 60 V and 550 kHz, respectively. A good linear relationship could be obtained between the peak area and the concentration of each BA at three orders of magnitude; the limits of detection were in the range of 44.3–149 ng mL−1. This proposed method has been successfully applied for the analysis of BAs in water and hard liquor samples.