Determination of amines using HPLC with fluorescence detection

Abstract

A simple and sensitive method for the determination of free aliphatic and aromatic amines using derivatives agents (dansyl chloride, 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate and 4-Chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan) as a labelling reagent by high-performance liq-uid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) has been developed. Derivatization conditions including reagent concentration, buffer pH, reaction time and temperature were optimized. A fluorescence derivatization - high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method, which enables the femtomole-level detection of analytes, is a powerful tool for the analysis with high sensitivity and selectivity. In recent decades, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have become an increasing topic of public concern, with high-profile incidents such as the Bali (2002), London transport (2005), Boston Marathon (2013) and Brussels (2016) bombings garnering mass international attention.[1] Although the majority of media coverage has fo-cused on large-scale incidents, there has also been a rise in explosive incidents in-volving smaller devices such as pipe bombs. This is particularly the case in the Unit-ed States, where pipe bombs are considered to make up the vast majority of IED en-counter. These devices can be easily constructed from everyday materials.[2] The mixture nitromethane with amines is applicable for this. Determination of resi-dues after an explosion is important. This method (HPLC-FLD) could be useful for their determination. The proposed method is sensitive and reproducible for the de-termination of aliphatic and aromatic amines.