Copper(II)-neocuproine as colour reagent for some biologically active thiols: Spectrophotometric determination of cysteine,penicillamine, glutathione,and 6-mercaptopurine

A new direct spectrophotometric method is described for determination of g/ml concentrations of four biologically important thiols: cysteine, penicillamine, glutathione, and 6-mercaptopurine. The method is based on reaction with copper(II)-neocuproine and subsequent measurement of the Cu(I)-neocuproine produced, at 458 nm. The method has been successfully applied to analysis for these thiols, with a relative standard deviation not exceeding 0.6%.