The changing face of chemical derivatization in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis

The present and past use of chemical derivatization reactions is overviewed with emphasis on the present role of derivatization in chromatographic and electrophoretic methods with special respect to fluorogenic derivatization to increase the selectivity and sensitivity, chiral derivatization to transform enantiomeric pairs to easily separable diastereomers, and GC/GC-MS derivatization. Non-chromatographic derivatization is also discussed with emphasis on UV-VIS spectrophotometry, fluorimetry, and immunoassay methods. The up-to-dateness of derivatization methods with negative examples mainly from the field of UV-VIS analysis are also discussed. Finally, examples are given on how the experiences obtained in the course of old studies can be used to solve current problems with the aid of chemical derivatization. Received: 19 January 1998 / Revised: 2 March 1998 / Accepted: 6 March 1998