ENANTIOMERIC DETERMINATION OF AMINO-COMPOUNDS WITH HIGH-SENSITIVITY USING THE CHIRAL REAGENTS (-1-(9-ANTHRYL)-2-PROPYL CHLOROFORMATE AND (-)-1-(9-ANTHRYL)-2-PROPYL CHLOROFORMATE())

New chiral precolumn reagents, (+)- and (-)-1-(9-anthryl)-2-propyl chl oroformate (APOC), are introduced for the chiral separation of amino a cids and small peptides in capillary electrophoresis. Chiral separatio n of 17 amino acids and four small peptides as their diastereomeric 1- (9-anthryl)-2-propyl carbamate derivatives have been achieved by micel lar electrokinetic chromatography. The detection limit for the derivat ives is in the femtomole range with UV detection and in the attomole r ange with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection. LIF detection wa s used to determine the enantiomeric excess of four APOC-derivatised p eptides. The use of the new, anthracene-based reagents in conjunction with argon ion LIF makes enantiomeric determinations at ppm levels fea sible. In this paper determinations below promille levels are performe d without overloading the separation system. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.