FORMATION AND VERIFICATION OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE 1-FLUORENYLMETHYL CHLOROFORMATE DERIVATIVE OF SULFAMETHAZINE

Sulfamethazine (SMZ) is derivatized with 1-fluorenyl-methyl chloroform ate (FMOC) to form the fluorescent adduct SMZ-FMOC, Conditions for for mation are optimized with respect to pH, reagent concentration, and re agent ratio, Reagent and product profiles (including the hydrolysis by product FMOC-OH) versus time are followed by reversed phase HPLC with UV absorbance detection, FMOC-SMZ has been crystallized, its compositi on confirmed by microanalysis, and its structure corroborated by IR an d NMR spectroscopy. From 10 down to ii ppm, there is clear gentle curv ature in the fluorescence intensity of SRZ-FMOC. The linear response r ange extends from above 100 ppb down to about 100 ppt, and an increase in sensitivity for the fluorescent detection of FMOC-SMZ (over the us ual UV absorbance detection of SMZ) is calculated to be better than 3 orders of magnitude.