A new hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of seven biogenic amines in cheese

An HILIC-PI APCI MS/MS method is developed for the determination of seven biogenic amines (cadaverine, histamine, putrescine, spermidine, spermine, tryptamine and tyramine) in cheese. Their presence and relative amounts give useful information about freshness, level of maturing, quality of storage and cheese typicization. The major drawback in the analysis is represented by the relevant matrix effect and the general unbalanced concentrations of the different amines in cheese. The method proposed represents an improvement with respect to an HPLC–MS/MS method already developed in this laboratory. The new method permits better sensitivities it makes use of a Waters Atlantis HILIC (150.0 mm × 2.1 mm i.d., 3 μm) stationary phase and of a mobile phase of acetonitrile and ammonium formate 50.0 mM in ultrapure water brought to pH 4.00 for formic acid, flowing under gradient conditions. The chromatographic system is interfaced with a 3200QTrap™ LC–MS/MS system (Applied Biosystem, Foster City, CA, USA) by a Turbo V™ interface equipped with Heated Nebuliser™ (APCI) and Turbo Ion Spray (TIS) probes. LOQ values lower than 10 μg L−1 are obtained. The method is applied in the analysis of Castelmagno cheese.