Determination of acrylamide in Chinese foods by GC-ion trap MS using 2-bromopropenamide and 2-bromopropenamide-13C3

GC/lon-Trap MS has been employed to determine the acrylamide content in some Chinese foods. The brominated derivative, 2,3-dibromopropionamide (2,3-DBPA), was found unstable and was converted to 2-broinopropenamide (2-BPA) during the GC/MS analysis. Lowering the injector temperature reduced the formation of 2-BPA. Triethylamine was used to convert 2,3-DBPA to 2BPA, which was stable during the analysis. The C-13(3)-labeled acrylamide was used as the internal standard. The ratio of peak area of 2-bromopropenamide (m/z 151) to 2-brornopropenarnide-C-13(3) (m/z 154) was used for quantification. The recoveries were between 102% and 110% when wheat flour dough was spiked with acrylamide at 10 to 50 mu g/kg. with the detection limit of 5 mu g/kg. Among the Chinese foods tested (fried gluten, instant noodles, and twisted cruller), old twisted cruller consisted the most acrylamide (890-900 mu g/kg), whereas fried gluten yielded the least acrylamide (less than 20 mu g/kg). probably due to the absence of starch.