Determination of trace biogenic amines with 1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-8-(N-hydroxysuccinimidyl butyric ester)-difluoroboradiaza-s-indacene derivatization using high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection.

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method based on chemical derivatization with fluorescence detection has been developed for analyzing biogenic amines in food and environmental samples. A BODIPY-based fluorescent reagent, 1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-8-(N-hydroxysuccinimidyl butyric ester)-difluoroboradiaza-s-indacene (TMBB-Su), was employed for the derivatization of these biogenic amines at 20 °C for 20 min in pH 7.20 borate buffer after careful investigation of the derivatization conditions including reagent concentration, buffer solution, reaction temperature and reaction time. Separation of biogenic amines with gradient elution was conducted on a C8 column with methanol-tetrahydrofuran-water as mobile phase. The detection limits were obtained in the range from 0.1 to 0.2 nM (signal-to-noise=3). This procedure has been validated using practical samples. The study results demonstrated a potential of employing high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with 1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-8-(N-hydroxysuccinimidyl butyric ester)-difluoroboradiaza-s-indacene labeling as a tool for quantitative analysis of biogenic amines involved in various matrices.