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

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 theyoriginate from endogenousmetabolic pathway. BAs maybe both essential and harmful to human health.In wine, the composition of grape variety, the different typesof fermentation and vinification processes and pH values are the most important contributors to BAs content. Several analytical methods have been reported forthe BAsdetermination 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 wasto investigate the content of nineBAs in 23Italian red winessamplesusing LC-ESI-MS.