A Novel Detection Method for Biogenic Amine Based on Dopant-Assisted Positive Photoionization Ion Mobility Spectrometry

Biogenic amines are crucial indicators of food freshness, and their detection is vital for ensuring food quality. This paper proposed a novel method for detecting three biogenic amines, namely spermine, spermidine, and histamine, based on dopant-assisted positive photoionization ion mobility spectrometry (DAPP-IMS) equipped with a thermal desorption sampler. Acetone was employed as the optimum dopant following a screening process based on the response of three biogenic amines and the peak-to-peak separation of the product ions and reactant ions. The different thermal desorption times of spermine, spermidine, and histamine resulted in varying entry times of the analytes into the reactive region, which partly reduced the competitive ionization between the analytes. The drift tube temperature significantly influenced the response signals of spermine, spermidine, and histamine in DAPP-IMS and the formation of histamine product ions. Quantitative analysis revealed that DAPP-IMS could realize the quantitative detection of spermine, spermidine, and histamine across mass ranges of 2.5 to 50 ng, 5 to 125 ng, and 25 to 175 ng, respectively, with the limits of detections of 0.5 ng, 0.5 ng, and 20 ng. These results highlighted that DAPP-IMS has great potential for the detection of biogenic amines in food to ensure quality and safety.