6-Oxy-(acetyl ethylenediamine) fluorescein, a novel fluorescent derivatization reagent for carboxylic acids and its application in HPLC

A novel fluorescent derivatization reagent for carboxylic acids, 6-oxy-(acetyl ethylenediamine) fluorescein (AEF), was well designed, synthesized, and applied to HPLC. The derivatization reaction with 12 fatty acids, including n-valeric acid (C5), n-hexanoic acid (C6), n-heptanoic acid (C7), n-octanoic acid (C8), n-nonanoic acid (C9), n-decanoic acid (C10), lauric acid (C12), myristic acid (C14), palmitic acid (C16), stearic acid (C18), oleic acid (C18:1), and linoleic acid (C18:2), was completed at 55 degrees C within 40 min. The derivatives of fatty acids were separated on a C18 RP column and detected by fluorescence detection. The LODs attained were 0.4-1.2 nM (S/N of 3). It has been demonstrated that AEF is a prominent derivatization reagent for carboxylic acids which is suitable for HPLC.