SELECTIVE AND RAPID-DETERMINATION OF BIOGENIC-AMINES BY CAPILLARY ZONE ELECTROPHORESIS

A rapid separation of 21 amines by high-performance capillary zone ele ctrophoresis with indirect photometric detection is presented. The ele ctrolyte is based on copper(II) as primary constituent. Factors affect ing the separation by this electrolyte have been investigated and incl ude the composition of the buffer, the voltage, the temperature and th e mode of injection. External calibration was used to characterize the analytical response to each amine, The detection limits were approxim ately 0.05 mu g mL(-1) for almost all the amines. After electrokinetic or hydrodynamic injection calibration plots of peak area against conc entration were linear between 0.05 and 10 mu g mL(-1). The method has been applied to the analysis of biogenic amines in synthetic samples; the recoveries of the amines from such samples, determined by the stan dard addition technique, were in the range 90 to 110 %.