Determination of naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde-labeled amino acids by open tubular liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.

Naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde (NDA) has been investigated as a new derivatizing reagent for the electrochemical detection of tagged amino acids. Gradient elution allowed for the separation of 18 NDA-derivatized amino acids on an open tubular liquid chromatography column in less than 50 min. Gradient elution and electrochemical detection were found to be compatible. A detection limit of 36 amol was obtained for the asparagine-NDA derivative. The usefulness of this technique for quantitation was demonstrated by the analysis of the NDA-tagged hydrolysis products from bovine chymotrypsinogen.