A high performance liquid chromatographic method with pre-column derivatization was developed for the determination of 2-aminobutane in vegetables and fruits.The sample was distilled with kjeldahl apparatus.The distillate was neutralized with NaOH solution before derivatization with 9-fluorenylemethyl chloroformate(FMOC) as derivatization agent under alkaline condition.The sample was separated on a C18 analytical column and detected by HPLC with a UV detector at a wavelength of 265 nm.Systematic investigation was carried out on the dependence of the derivatization conditions such as concentration of derivatization,pH value of borate buffer solution,reaction temperature and time etc.The optimized conditions were as follows:concentration of derivatization:0.50 g/L,pH value of borate buffer:8.0,reaction temperature:room temperature,and reaction time:10 min.Under the optimal conditions,a linear relationship was achieved between the peak area and the concentration of 2-aminobutane in the range of 0.001-1.000 mg/L，with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 8.The recoveries at three spiked levels were in the range of 82.4%-95.2% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 1.3%-6.8%.The limit of detection(LOD) was 0.1 μg/kg,and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 0.5 μg/kg.With the advantages of rapidness,simplicity,safety,high sensitivity and reproducibility,this method is suitble for the determination of 2-aminobutane in vegetables and fruits.