The spectrophotometric determination of diacetyl.

A new assay for the determination of diacetyl based on the colorimetric reaction with creatine and alpha-naphthol in an alkaline medium was developed. After a determination of optimal concentrations of the necessary reagents, the assay could easily detect as little as 0.5 micrograms of diacetyl. Since mammalian tissue extracts inhibit the reaction, distillation of the tissue filtrates before the assay was required. Rat heart, kidney, and liver were shown to contain diacetyl while brain was negative.