180 M.V. Moreno-Arribas and M.C. Polo
concentrations. Several techniques have been developed for biogenic amine deter-
mination in foods, some to analyse one specific biogenic amine (histamine or tyra-
mine), and others to detect more than one simultaneously. Initially, spectrofluorimet-
ric techniques were used to determine biogenic amines (Vidal-Carou et al. 1990b).
More recently, chromatographic methods are the techniques most commonly applied
to analyse several biogenic amines simultaneously.
On the other hand, qualitative measurements have also been described to indi-
cate the presence of amines in wine. The potential of biogenic amines to appear
in wine can be determined by using molecular tools which detect the presence of
decarboxylase-positive microorganisms.
6A.3.4.1 Quantification by Liquid Chromatography
Of the wide range of analytical techniques to detect and quantify biogenic amines
in wines described in the literature, reverse phase high-power liquid chromatogra-
phy (RP-HPLC) is the one most widely used in laboratories, since it can obtain the
most information about all the amines identified in must and wine (Lehtonen 1996;
Romero et al. 2002; Torrea and Anc ́ın 2002; V ́azquez-Lasa et al. 1998; Marcobal
et al. 2005b; Hern ́andez-Orte et al. 2006b; G ́omez-Alonso et al. 2007). In fact, one
RP-HPLC technique is currently being adopted as a reference technique by the Inter-
national Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV).
Owing to the absence of chromophores from these compounds, it is necessary
to form derivatives that are absorbed in ultraviolet or are fluorescent to facilitate
detection. For this purpose, dansyl-chloride andO-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) are
the reagents most used. In the case of dansyl-chloride, the reaction is carried out
before chromatographic separation, while with OPA it can be done before the col-
umn or after (V ́azquez-Lasa et al. 1998; Marcobal et al. 2005b). Other derivatiz-
ing reagents used, of more general application, are 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate
(FMOC), aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl caramate (AQC) (Hern ́andez-Orte
et al. 2006b), and diethyl ethoxymethylenemalonate (DEEMM) (G ́omez-Alonso
et al. 2007). Of all these derivatives, the most used is OPA, because of its rapid
one-step derivatization reaction and the possibility of automating the reaction, which
increases the reproducibility of the analytical method, among other reasons.
Besides HPLC methods, over the past few years other chromatographic tech-
niques applicable to biogenic amine analysis have been performed. Among oth-
ers, micellar liquid chromatography (MLC) (Gil-Agust ́ı et al. 2007); micellar
electrokinetic chromatography (MECC) separation with laser-induced fluorescence
(LIF) detection (Nouadje et al. 1997), nanoliquid chromatography with UV detec-
tion (Hern ́andez-Borges et al. 2007), ion-pair liquid chromatography (Hlabangana
et al. 2006), and liquid chromatography-electronspray ionisation ion trap mass spec-
trometry (Mill ́an et al. 2007) are used.
6A.3.4.2 Quantification by Capillary Electrophoretic Techniques
The attraction of using capillary electrophoresis (CE) methods mainly lies in the
short analysis time, high separation efficiencies, and reduced consumption of