Analysis of heterocyclic amines as their N-dimethylaminomethylene derivatives by gas chromatography with nitrogen-phosphorus selective detection

Abstract

A selective and sensitive method was developed for the determination of heterocyclic amines (HCAs) by gas chromatography (GC). HCAs were converted into their N-dimethylaminomethylene derivatives and measured by GC with nitrogen-phosphorus selective detection using two connected fused-silica capillary columns containing DB-1 and DB-17ht. The derivatives of the 10 HCAs were sufficiently volatile and stable to give single symmetrical peaks. The calibration curves for HCAs in the range 0.5–10 ng were linear with correlation coefficients being above 0.998. The detection limits at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were ca. 2–15 pg per injection.