Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry method was developed for the simultaneous determination of six amino-carboline heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in pan-fried pork patties. The effects of processing conditions on the formation of these HAAs were also investigated. Results showed that the optimum extraction and purification conditions were as follows: 1.0 g of the sample was extracted with 10 mL of 1 mol/L NaOH solution-acetonitrile (4:6, V/V) added with 1.5 g of NaCl, purified on a StrataTM-X-C column and eluted with methanol-ammonium hydroxide (90:10, V/V). The calibration curves for the six HAAs were linear in their respective concentration ranges with correlation coefficients greater than 0.996. The detection limit and quantification limit of the developed method were 0.02–0.15 μg/kg and 0.05–0.5 μg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of these HAAs were in the range of 64%–91%. The content of these six HAAs in pork patty pan-fried for 5 min was 9.50 μg/kg. Pan-fried pork patties cooked with rapeseed oil, composite-coating pot, and patty thickness of 4 cm had the highest contents of HAAs, which were 47.62, 76.83 and 29.33 μg/kg, respectively.

Key words: heterocyclic aromatic amine; processing conditions; liquid chromatography; pork patty