Abstract
A method is presented in which a pre-column fluorescent derivative of primary amino acids is formed using o-phthalaldehyde (OPA). After a one minute derivatization period, the OPA amino acids are separated by high performance liquid chromatography using a ternary gradient in the reversed phase mode and fluorometric detection. The complete analysis time, including the derivatization step is less than 40 minutes with an average minimum detectable quantity of 40 picograms.