Some new fluorescent derivatives for the mass spectrometric quantitation of biogenic amines.

The 5-dimethyl-, diethyl-, dipropyl-, dibutyl-, and dipentyl-aminoaphghalene-1-sulfonyl (dansyl, ethanyl, propansyl, bansyl and pentansyl respectively) derivatives of tyramine and other biogenic amines were prepared and their mass spectra recorded. The relative intensity of the largest unique ion increased with increasing length of the alkyl group. Several O-alkyl-N-propansyl- and N,O-dialkyl-N-propansyl-, bansyl- and pentansyl-tyramines were also synthesized and their mass spectra recorded. Dimethylbansyl- and dimethylpentansyl-tyramines exhibited the largest unique ions in their mass spectra and the greatest sensitivity in quantitation by the integrated ion current method. Procedures for preparing these derivatives in amounts ranging from nanograms to milligrams are presented and their thin-layer chromatographic behavior in three solvent systems is described.