Application of gas-diffusion microextraction for high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of aliphatic amines in fermented beverages

This work presents a novel application of a recently developed analytical extraction technique, gas-diffusion microextraction (GDME), in the analysis of three volatile aliphatic amines (methylamine, dimethylamine and ethylamine) in fermented beverages. The method involves the extraction of the amines using GDME and pre-column derivatisation of the collected amines with phenyl isothiocyanate (PITC) followed by analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection. It was successfully applied to quantify the mentioned amines in Portuguese wines (white, red and rose) and beers (dark, pilsner and alcohol-free). Limits of detection ranged between 12 and 46 μg L−1 and limits of quantification between 39 and 153 μg L−1. This method is shown to be a competitive alternative to existing methods since it accomplishes a great simplification in the sample preparation needed.