Determination of selected biogenic amines in Acacia rigidula plant materials and dietary supplements using LC–MS/MS methods

Abstract Extracts of Acacia rigidula leaves are used in weight-loss products sold in vitamin shops and over the internet with little or no published data about their potential biological effects. In our chemical investigations on authenticated A. rigidula plant material, we established a rapid and sensitive LC–MS/MS method for the quantitative determination of several phenethylamine, tyramine and tryptamine derivatives. Stable isotopically labeled compounds were used as internal standards for quantitative analysis. We found total calculated contents of 6 biogenic amines in A. rigidula leaf of 18.6 and 32.9 μg/g. The content of selected amines in 21 dietary supplements labeled as containing A. rigidula was determined by a second LC–MS/MS method. Our study revealed significant differences in the amine profiles of authenticated plant materials and dietary supplements. β-Methylphenethylamine, a non-natural compound, was found in 9 of the 21 dietary supplement products. β-Methylphenethylamine was found at levels of 960–60,500 μg/g while phenethylamine was found at levels of 710–171,620 μg/g. β-Methylphenethylamine is a positional isomer of amphetamine and our results showed that it can be misidentified as amphetamine during LC–MS analysis. An independent GC–MS analysis was used to confirm the presence of β-methylphenethylamine and the absence of amphetamine in dietary supplements labeled as containing A. rigidula . This study demonstrates that confirmations by independent analytical methods are essential to verify findings of unusual or unexpected compounds in dietary supplements.