New fluorigenic reagents and their fluorescent reactions for amino acid measurements.

Naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde, 1-phenylnaphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde and anthracene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde have been characterized for use as fluorigenic reagents for the determination of primary amines and amino acids at the microgram level. The reaction conditions, spectral properties and stability of the derivatives (isoindoles) have been investigated with standard amino acids. The results have been compared with other fluorigenic reagents such as ortho-phthalaldehyde.