Simultaneous liquid chromatography determination of polyamines and arylalkyl monoamines

The diamines putrescine (PUT) and diaminopropane (DAP), the polyamines spermidine (SPD) and spermine (SPM), and the arylalkyl amines phenethylamine (PEA), tyramine (TYR), dopamine (DA), and salsolinol (SAL) were dansylated and baseline separated by LC using a Waters ODS-2 column. The dansyl derivatives were detected by fluorescence (λex: 337 nm; λem: 520 nm). Besides the amine function, the phenolic OH groups of TYR, DA, and SAL were also dansylated (LC–MS, formation of N,O-didansyl [TYR] and N,O,O′-tridansyl derivatives [DA and SAL]). Calibration curves revealed response factors being appreciably lower for (N,O-didansyl) aminophenol TYR and (N,O,O′-tridansyl) DA and SAL than for N-dansylamines. However, the method is suitable as a cheap alternative to LC–MS for the simultaneous determination of polyamines and arylalkyl amines of large quantities of samples.