Spectrofluorimetric determination of aliphatic amines using a new fluorigenic reagent: 2,6-dimethylquinoline-4-(N-succinimidyl)-formate

A new amino fluorescence probe, 2,6-dimethylquinoline-4-(N-succinimidyl) formate (DMQF-OSu) has been synthesized. Based on the selective reaction of DMQF-OSu with primary and secondary aliphatic amines to yield strong fluorescence, a new spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of total aliphatic amines has been developed. At λex/λem=324.4/416 nm, the linear calibration range was 6×10−8–6×10−6 mol l−1 with the detection limit (3σ) of 1.94×10−10 mol l−1 for the determination of aliphatic amines in weak basic media. The proposed method has been applied to the determination of aliphatic amines in tap water and lake water with the recoveries of 99–104%. Compared with the reported methods, the method presented here is rapid, simple, sensitive and feasible.