Development of a LC-MS/MS method for the analysis of volatile primary and secondary amines as NIT (naphthylisothiocyanate) derivatives.

High-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection was used for the structure elucidation of eighteen primary and secondary amines and ammonia derivatised with naphthylisothiocyanate (NIT). A fragmentation scheme was established using reference compounds and the scheme was applied to real air samples from a tyre repair shop and from the air above a bacterial culture. The sampling was performed using a solid sorbent, XAD-2, impregnated with NIT, and the derivatives were extracted with acetonitrile and analysed with LC-MS/MS. A three-step process was developed for screening and identifying of volatile amines. The first step, selected reaction monitoring; SRM was applied in order to screen the samples for NIT derivatives. In the second step, a precursor ion scan gave the [M+H](+) ion, and in the third step a product ion scan gave the fragments needed for identification. The detection limits varied between 0.12 and 0.25 ng microL(-1) when screening for unknown derivatised amines. It was possible to separate and identify all the amines with the structural information obtained and the method proved to be general, sensitive and well suited for sampling and analysis of complex environmental samples.