Electromembrane extraction of biogenic amines in food samples by a microfluidic-chip system followed by dabsyl derivatization prior to high performance liquid chromatography analysis.

In the present research, an on-chip electromembrane extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography was developed for monitoring the trace levels of biogenic amines (BAs), including histamine, tryptamine, putrescine, cadaverine and spermidine in food samples. A porous polypropylene sheet membrane impregnated with an organic solvent was placed between the two parts of the chip device to separate the channels. Two platinum electrodes were mounted at the bottom of these channels, which were connected to a power supply, providing the electrical driving force for migration of ionized analytes from the sample solution through the porous sheet membrane into the acceptor phase. BAs were extracted from 2 mL aqueous sample solutions at neutral pH into 50 μL of acidified (HCl 90 mM) acceptor solution. Supported liquid membrane including NPOE containing 10% DEHP was used to ensure efficient extraction. Low voltage of 40 V was applied over the SLMs during extraction time. The influences of fundamental parameters affecting the transport of BAs were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the relative standard deviations based on four replicate measurements were less than 8.0% and limit of detections were in range of 3.0-8.0 μg L. Finally, the method was successfully applied to determinate BAs in the food samples and satisfactory results (recovery > 95.6) were obtained.