DETERMINATION OF HETEROCYCLIC AROMATIC-AMINES BY CAPILLARY ZONE ELECTROPHORESIS IN A MEAT EXTRACT

The use of capillary electrophoresis (CE) for the determination of het erocyclic aromatic amines in a complex matrix is reported. This work f ocuses on the development of a suitable procedure for the quantitation of 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo [4,5-f]quinoline (MeIQ), 2-amino-3,8-d imethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinox (MeIQ(x)), 2-amino- 1-methyl-6-phenylimida zo[4,5-b]pyridine, 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole and 2-amino -6-methyldipyrido[1,2-a:3',2'-d]imidazole at ppb level in a commercial meat extract. The influence of pH and buffer concentration, applied p otential, temperature and injection mode were investigated. Several so lid-phase extraction steps were performed for the clean-up of the samp le, and a 10 mM KCl-HCl (pH 2.20) solution was used as running electro lyte for the separation by CE. Furthermore, figures of merit of the me thod were calculated, and detection limits ranging from 25-50 ng ml(-1 ) were obtained. MeIQ and MeIQx were detected in the meat extract at l evels of 9.3 ng g(-1) and 10.4 ng g(-1), respectively. The analytical results were verified by a high-performance liquid chromatography meth od previously established.