Determination, purification, and characterization of alpha-NADH.

alpha-NADH can be determined in the presence of high concentrations of beta-NADH using anion exchange HPLC combined with oxidation of beta-NADH by lactate dehydrogenase. The method is suited for the detection of a large number of impurities. Residual absorption is a poor measure of alpha-NADH. By combination of preparative anion exchange chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC, alpha-NADH can be prepared with 95-98% purity starting from beta-NADH. Commercially available preparations contain only 80-90% alpha-NADH. The anomerization kinetics of alpha- and beta-NADH has been investigated at pH 7.0 and 7.3 taking into account the irreversible conversion reactions of alpha- and beta-NADH. The H+ ion activity related anomerization rate constants kappa 1 (alpha to beta) and kappa 2 (beta to alpha) have been found to be 170 and 29 M-1 s-1, respectively, at pH 7.0 and 192 and 36 M-1 s-1, respectively, at pH 7.3. The equilibrium constants kappa 1 /kappa 2 are 5.8 and 5.3 at pH 7.0 and pH 7.3, respectively. Absorption and fluorescence properties of alpha-NADH preparations have been determined newly. At 25 degrees C, maximum absorption was found at 260.1 and 346.6 nm, whereas at 37 degrees C the wavelengths were 260.1 and 345.3 nm. Maximum fluorescence excitation was found at 348 nm, and maximum emission was at 453 nm.