Determination of seven heterocyclic aromatic amines in oils and fried foods by ultra performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Abstract

An ultra performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of seven heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) in oil and fried food samples. The samples were extracted with acetonitrile containing 1% (v/v) ammonia water, defatted by n-hexane saturated with acetonitrile, and cleaned up with PCX solid phase extraction column. The extracts were separated on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 reversed-phase column (50 mm×2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) with gradient elution by using acetonitrile-10 mmol/L ammonium formate aqueous solution as the mobile phase. Quantitative detection was performed by using a positive-ion electrospray ionization source in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, employing an internal isotope standard. The method showed good linear relationships in the range of 0.5-100 μg/L for the seven HCAs with correlation coefficients (R2)>0.999. The average recoveries ranged from 64.31% to 113.8% with the relative standard deviations of 0.18%-9.26% at the three spiked levels in oil and fried food samples. The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.01-0.14 ng/g and 0.09-0.38 ng/g, respectively. The method is sensitive, accurate, and suitable for the determination and confirmation of the seven HCAs in oil and fried food samples.