High-performance liquid chromatography with photochemical fluorimetric detection of tryptophan based on 4-fluoro-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa- 1,3-diazole : Total protein amino acid analysis

The simultaneous determination of amino acids including trytophan is described. The NBD- F forms a single adduct with tryptophan as with other amino acids, but the adduct lacks intrinsic fluorescence. After ultraviolet irradiation, the adduct fluoresces (pale-green); the fluorescence intensity increases with increasing irradiation time at pH 2-10, Under the same conditions, the other amino acid adducts are slowly decomposed. When the tryptophan adduct, separated on a Nucleosil ODS column (150×4.6 mm, 6 μm), is irradiated in an on-line photochemical reactor (310 nm), its fluorescence peak appears between those of the phenylalanine and lysine adducts. The detection limit for tryptophan by the proposed method is 3 pmol; the limits for other amino acids are 10–100 fmol.