DETERMINATION OF VOLATILE N-NITROSAMINES IN BACON COOK-OUT FAT BY NITRITE RELEASE AND THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY OF FLUORESCENT AMINE DERIVATIVES

A method is described for the identification and determination of volatile N-nitrosamines in bacon cook-out fat. The technique is based on separation by double distillation, clean-up on a column of silica gel, determination by cleavage with HBr in glacial acetic acid, and subsequent colorimetric estimation of nitrite released and/or thin-layer chromatography of the 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-l,3-diazole (NBD-C1) derivatives of the corresponding amines. Lower limits of detection of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR) are in the order of 5 μg/kg (ppb). The technique has been compared with a high-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method and gave comparable results. © 1978, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.