Experimental and Molecular Dynamics Investigation Proves That Montmorillonite Traps the Biogenic Amines Histamine and Tyramine

Biogenic amines present in high concentrations in foods obtained through fermentation could have toxic effects and contribute to the arising of allergies. For this reason, their removal is of great importance. In this work, we used an experimental and computational approach to investigate the interaction between a calcium montmorillonite, a layered silicate very common in clays, and the two biogenic amines histamine and tyramine, obtaining deep insight into their binding modalities and structural organization. Calcium montmorillonite can exchange almost all its interlayer Ca2+with the protonated histamine and tyramine, thus reducing their concentration in water solution. The adopted multianalytical approach allowed classification of the interaction mechanism as an intercalation. Molecular dynamics simulations showed that the intercalated histamine and tyramine preferentially interact, through the protonated amino nitrogen, with tetrahedral aluminum bearing a net negative charge, whereas interactions with neutral tetrahedral silica is less favorable. We observed that most of histamine molecules bind in the center and above the 6T net of the silica sheet, but for electrostatic constraints they cannot occupy the center of two adjacent 6T nets as occurs for tyramine.