Aqueous sulfuric acid as the mobile phase in cation ion chromatography for determination of histamine, putrescine, and cadaverine in fish samples.

: Aqueous sulfuric acid can be used as the mobile phase in cation ion chromatography to separate the three biogenic amines, putrescine, cadaverine, and histamine, from fish. Various concentrations of aqueous sulfuric acid were investigated to optimize the separation of these three biogenic amines. Aqueous sulfuric acid (5.0 mM) was found to be optimum for the separation and was used to determine the three biogenic amines in fish. The LOQ, defined as the lowest level of the standard calibration curve, was 0.055 ppm (equivalent to 0.55 microg/g sample) for putrescine, 0.05 ppm (equivalent to 0.5 microg/g sample) for cadaverine, and 1.0 ppm (equivalent to 10 microg/g sample) for histamine. From statistical analysis of the LOQ, the method detection limit was 0.003 ppm for putrescine, 0.009 ppm for cadaverine, and 0.16 ppm for histamine. For sample preparation, the fish was composited, homogenized in methanol-water (75 + 25, v/v), incubated for 15 min at 60 degrees C, and centrifuged. The sample solution was micron-filtered before injection. The mobile phase flow rate was 0.8 mL/min under isocratic conditions at room temperature (15-25 degrees C). The three biogenic amines were separated in the order of increasing retention time, i.e., putrescine, cadaverine, and histamine, within 30 min. The chromatograms showed complete peak separation of the three amines regardless of the difference in fish matrixes.