High-performance liquid chromatographic detection and quantitation of amines in must and wine

Three fluorigenic reagents were tried in order to increase the sensitivity of the detection of various amines. The derivatives formed were then used to develop a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) procedure for the separation of at least five amines. Dns-C1 and fluorescamine were rejected. The chromatogram of Dns-amines from red wine was overcrowded with unidentifiable peaks. It was then postulated that ammonia or phenol derivatives or other by-products of the Dns derivatization reaction interfered with the separation of amines. Fluorescamine, although it produced highly fluorescent derivatives, had the drawback of reacting with di- and polyamines to give more than one derivative and this interfered with the resolution. o-Phthaldialdehyde (OPT) was used successfully for the derivatization of amines in red must and wine. The method involved the reaction of amines with OPT in the presence of mercaptoethanol followed by extraction of the derivatives with ethyl acetate. A reversed-phase HPLC system was developed for the separation of OPT derivatives of agmatine, cadaverine, ethanolamine, histamine, phenylethylamine, putrescine, tryptamine, tyramine, spermine and spermidine within 40 min.