Application of the Iodine‐Azide Procedure for Detection of Biogenic Amines in TLC

Abstract

The iodine‐azide reaction was employed for TLC detection of sulphur containing derivatives of biogenic amines. The derivatization reaction with phenyl isothiocyanate (PITC) took place directly on the plate before the developing step. Subsequently, the plates were sprayed with a mixture of sodium azide and starch solution in NP‐TLC and, in the case of RP‐TLC, sodium azide solution with starch was incorporated into the mobile phase and then exposed to iodine vapour. The spots became visible as white spots on violet grey background. The results of the detection limits proved to be advantageous to other commonly used detection techniques (UV and iodine chamber). The attempt to separate the mixtures of phenyl thiocarbamyl biogenic amines was also made.

Keywords:

• Biogenic amines
• Phenyl isothiocyanate
• Iodine‐azide reaction
• Thin‐layer chromatography (TLC)

Acknowledgments

This work was supported partly by grant No 505/678 from the University of Łódź, Poland and partly by grant No 3 TO9A 0008 28 from the State Committee for Scientific Research KBN.