Organic Bases

This chapter deals with a not very well-defined class

of compounds, generically called organic bases.

According to the Brønsted-Lowry definition a base is

any molecule or ion that accepts protons; the definition

given by Lewis is even more general, since any

substance donor of an electron pair is called a base. Many kinds of organic bases are found in food both

of vegetal and animal origin. Here, we classify this

complex group of compounds in the following rather

arbitrary way:

1. Biogenic amines and alkylamines 2. Heterocyclic aromatic amines 3. Unsulfonated aromatic amines 4. Purine and pyrimidine bases 5. Methylxanthines 6. Various alkaloids

In particular, we will discuss in this second edition,

all the papers that have has been published on the

analysis of organic bases in food and beverages since

1995 up to now. The most recent papers are described in the text

while most of the methods already discussed in the

previous edition are presented in tabular form. The

tables report, when available, the method used,

the experimental conditions, the detection limit (DL),

the kind of samples considered and the amount found

in the different food investigated, as well as the essential

steps concerning the extraction and sample treatment

before analysis.