AUTOMATED AMINO-ACID DETERMINATION BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH 2-(9-ANTHRYL)ETHYL CHLOROFORMATE AS PRECOLUMN REAGENT

A fully automated HPLC method for the determination of amino acids in protein hydrolysates has been developed, using 2-(9-anthryl)ethyl chlo roformate and precolumn derivatization. This UV sensitive reagent reac ts rapidly with both primary and secondary amines at room temperature to form stable carbamate derivatives. The reaction conditions have bee n thoroughly investigated. A complete separation of protein hydrolysat es is accomplished within 40 min. The results an compared to those of the well known 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate method. Detection limit s for UV and fluorescence detection were found to be 0.5 pmol and 0.06 pmol, respectively, (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.