Three liquid phase membrane extraction method based on the electro-migration assisted by high-performance liquid chromatography for the analysis of carcinogenic heterocyclic aromatic amines in steak samples.

A combination of microwave digestion and three-phase hollow fiber electromembrane extraction (HF-EME) with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was designed to determine carcinogenic heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in steak samples. The recorded fingers of merit (LOD: 1.4-1.6 ng/g, LOQ: 4.5-5.2 ng/g, RSD: 6.1-7.2 %, recovery: 91-95 % and EF: 107-112) underlines the adequacy of the proposed technique. The total of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f] quinoline (IQ), 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo [4,5-f] quinoxaline (MeIQx), 2-amino-3,4 dimethylimidazo[4,5-f] quinoline (MeIQ) and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4'5-b] pyridine (PhIP) in steak samples were 93.46 ± 4.93-174.52 ± 10.91 ng/g, 31.65 ± 1.87-877.97 ± 56.19 ng/g, 10.08 ± 1.01-535.73 ± 18.93 ng/g, and 62.56 ± 1.89-341.23 ± 41.45 ng/g, respectively. Lamb steak contain highest amount of MeIQx (877.97 ± 56.19 ng/g) and beef steak showed lowest concentration of MeIQ (10.08 ± 1.07 ng/g). In conclusion, several interesting features such as great recovery, suitable enrichment factor, very low sample amount and organic solvent requirement and short extraction time make this novel method appropriate for the analysis of the negligible levels of HAAs in complex food matrices.