DETERMINATION OF ALCOHOLS BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH FLUOROMETRIC DETECTION AFTER PRECOLUMN DERIVATIZATION WITH 2-(4-CARBOXYPHENYL)-6-METHOXYBENZOFURAN

A simple procedure is described for the derivatization of primary shor t- and long-chain alcohols and the high-performance liquid chromatogra phic separation and determination of the resulting derivatives. The al cohols were derivatized to their 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-6-methoxybenzofur an esters with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochlo ride as the dehydrating agent. The coupling (esterification) reaction proceeded rapidly and smoothly in the presence of a base catalyst. An aliquot of the reaction mixture was analyzed either directly or after further purification using solid or solvent extraction procedures. The resulting esters of 30 alcohols were separated on a reversed-phase co lumn (Ultrasphere C-8) with gradient elution and detected fluorimetric ally (excitation at 315 nm, emission at 390 nm). The limits of detecti on (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) for the derivatized alcohols were in th e range 0.1-0.5 pg per injection.