Simple, reliable determination of biogenic amines in Italian red wines. Direct analysis of underivatized biogenic amines by LC-ESI-MS

Authors

• Giuliana Vinci*, Laura Gobbi, Lucia Maddaloni, Sabrina Antonia Prencipe Laboratory of Commodity Science, Department of Management, Sapienza University of Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano 9, 00161 Rome, Italy

Abstract

Amines are ubiquitous compounds, and they are called “biogenic amines” (BAs) when they are synthetized by microbial decarboxylation of corresponding amino acids or “natural polyamines” when they originate from endogenous metabolic pathway. BAs may be both essential and harmful to human health. In wine, the composition of grape variety, the different types of fermentation and vinification processes and pH values are the most important contributors to BAs content.  Several analytical methods have been reported for the BAs determination in wine (HPLC-UV/FLD, CE, LC-MS, etc.). As the most of them necessary require a long pre- or post-column chemical derivatization, LC coupled with MS spectrometry offers a reliable and faster determination of underivatized biogenic amines. The aim of the present work was to investigate the content of nine BAs in 23 Italian red wines samples using LC-ESI-MS.