Characterization of newfound natural luminescent properties of melamine, and development and validation of a method of high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection for its determination in kitchen plastic ware

Experimental studies of the natural photoluminescence of melamine in aqueous solutions showed that its fluorescence intensity (at 250/365 nm) was appropriated for analytical purposes. The exploitation of such melamine property provided the basis of development of a new, simple, precise and accurate method based on high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC–Fluo) to determine melamine in kitchen plastic ware following aqueous extraction using a microwave oven. Optimization of analytical parameters such as solvent composition, pH and extraction conditions led to limits of detection and quantification of melamine of 0.0081 and 0.027 μg mL−1, respectively, with a linear range up to 10 μg mL−1. Sample extracts fortified with melamine at three concentration levels produced an average recovery of 98±6%, which was in agreement with the results achieved with a reference HPLC–UV method. Different samples of kitchen plastic ware analyzed by the developed and optimized method showed melamine concentrations in the aqueous extract up to 17 µg mL−1, which corresponded to 86.0 mg kg−1 in these utensils. The results obtained indicate that the use of kitchen plastic ware made of melamine can contaminate food with this compound after heating in a microwave oven.