determination of polyamines in baby food by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry: optimization of extraction and microwave-assisted derivatization using response surface methodology

The present work evaluates the feasibility of microwave-assisted acylation combined with previous ion-pair extraction for the determination of the polyamines spermidine and spermine in baby food by gc-ms. in this way, extraction and derivatization reaction times were simultaneously optimized using a central composite rotational design. from response surface analysis, we verified maximum analytical response for spermidine and spermine employing 1 m hydrochloric acid solution as extraction solvent under shaking during 35 min, followed by acylation derivatization using a household microwave at 600 w for only 5 min. limits of detection and quantification of 5 and 10 μg kg−1 were achieved, and recoveries from 72 to 112% and rsd values ≤16% were obtained under repeatability and within-reproducibility conditions for both polyamines, at levels of 250 and 500 μg kg−1. the validated gc-ms method was applied for 20 baby food samples commercially available in brazil, thus resulting in the first report on spermidine and spermine in baby food.