Determination of urinary aromatic amines in smokers and nonsmokers using a MIPs-SPE coupled with LC–MS/MS method

Urinary aromatic amines (AAs) could be used as biomarkers for human exposure to AAs in cigarette smoke. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of urinary AAs (i.e. 1-naphthylamine (1-NA), 2-naphthylamine (2-NA), 3-aminobiphenyl (3-ABP) and 4-aminobiphenyl (4-ABP)) in smokers and nonsmokers. A molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge was applied to purify urine samples and no derivatization reaction was involved. Each analytes used respective stable isotope internal standards, which could well compensate matrix effect. Lower limit of detections (LODs) for four AAs were obtained and in the range of 1.5–5 ng L−1. Recovery ranged from 87.7 ± 4.5% to 111.3 ± 6.4% and precision were less than 9.9%. The method was applied to analyze urine samples of 40 smokers and 10 nonsmokers. The 24 h urinary excretion amounts of total AAs were higher for smokers compared with nonsmokers. Whatʹs more, 1-NA, 3-ABP and 4-ABP excretion amounts showed significant differences (p < 0.05) between smokers and nonsmokers.