Determination of less polar heterocyclic amines in meat extracts: fast sample preparation method using solid-phase microextraction prior to high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence quantification.

A procedure for the determination of less polar heterocyclic amines in meat extracts using solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection is presented. Analytes were first extracted from the samples using methanol/NaOH by an ultrasound-assisted method, and then concentrated on a Carbowax-templated resin (CW-TPR) SPME fiber. The extraction conditions such as extractant mixture composition, extraction time and extractions number, were optimized and the need of an extract freezing step previous to SPME is discussed. The detection limits under optimal conditions are in the range of 0.28-1.1 ng g(-1). The method was applied to the determination of less polar heterocyclic amines in four commercial meat extracts. Recovery values obtained are higher than 60% for the majority of amines.