Determination of biogenic amines in beer and wine by capillary electrophoresis–tandem mass spectrometry

• A CE–MS/MS method was developed for biogenic amines (BAs) in beer and wine.
• Spermine, spermidine, putrescine, histamine, and five other BAs were focused.
• The only pretreatment step is a simple clean-up with poly(vinylpolypyrrolidone).
• The limits of quantification were in the range of 3–8 μg L−1.
• The method was successfully applied to commercial samples of beer and wine.

A capillary electrophoresis–tandem mass spectrometry (CE–MS/MS) method for the simultaneous assessment of nine biogenic amines (spermine, spermidine, putrescine, cadaverine, histamine, phenylethylamine, tryptamine, tyramine, and urocanic acid) in commercial samples of beer and wine is introduced. The samples were submitted to a simple clean-up step with poly(vinylpolypyrrolidone) followed by filtration. Electrophoretic separation in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-coated capillary using 0.5 mol L−1 acetic acid (pH 2.5) as background electrolyte and detection by electrospray-tandem mass spectrometry was employed. The range of the correlation coefficients of the calibration curves of the analyzed compounds was 0.996–0.999, and the limits of detection and limits of quantification were in the range of 1–2 μg L−1 and 3–8 μg L−1, respectively. The recovery values for samples spiked at three concentration levels (0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 mg L−1) ranged from 87 to 113% with standard deviation not greater than 5.8%. The use of a PVA-coated silica capillary allows suppressing the electroosmotic flow and, consequently, increasing of the separation efficiency. The method was successfully used to determine biogenic amines in commercial samples of beer and wine.