HTLC: A Viable Approach to Fast LC of Biogenic Amines in Food with Legacy Equipment

Nowadays, there is a demand for fast liquid chromatography (LC) of biogenic amines in food with the equipment available in the average laboratory. To this end, high-temperature liquid chromatography (HTLC) is presented in this study as a viable option, working on a conventional LC platform at moderately high temperatures up to 80 °C. The LC platform was adapted by including an appropriate length of stainless-steel microbore tubing as a preheater. Biogenic amines as benzoyl derivatives showed good thermostability on a thermally rugged column (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm). As a model application the HTLC conditions were developed for wine separation. The separation selectivity changed considerably with temperature in the range 36–84 °C, and baseline resolution was obtained only at temperatures well above ambient. At 73 °C oven temperature, the system allowed a flow rate as high as 3 mL min −1 with the backpressure not exceeding 195 bar (2800 psi). The separation took less than 5 min, comparably fast to documented fast LC separations, and typically at least three to five times faster than a conventional separation.