Thin-layer chromatography for the identification and semi-quantification of biogenic amines produced by bacteria

The screening TLC method described enables the simultaneous identification and semi-quantification of eight biogenic amines with a large number of samples handled in a short period of time. The dansylation process time was drastically reduced from 80 to 18 min by increasing the reaction temperature to 100 °C. Bacteria could be classified as no, low, moderate or powerful amine producers when no spots were noticeable in TLC plates, less than 50 mg/L, from 50 to 500 mg/L, or more than 500 mg/L of amines were present in the decarboxylase broth medium, respectively. This TLC method is a simpler, faster and less expensive alternative to other methods, such as differential culture media, HPLC and even more sensitive than other TLC procedures.