Analysis ofAllium sulfur amino acids by HPLC after derivatization

Summary Two pre-column derivatization procedures coupled with reversed phase HPLC have been compared for the analysis ofS-Alk(en)yl0L-cysteine sulfoxides in variousAllium species. In order to establish external standards some (+/-) sulfoxides were synthesized, using a new method to enhance asymmetric synthesis of the diastereoisomers. The first derivatization method is the formation ofo-phthaldialdehyde/tert.-butylthiol derivatives which can be analyzed using UV detection. The second, presently used for amino acid analysis, is the Waters Pico-Tag method, which employs phenylisothiocyanate as derivatization reagent. As the Pico-Tag method was found to be the most efficient for determination ofS-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine sulfoxides it was used to determine the alliin content of various samples of garlic.