High-performance liquid chromatographic-fluorometric determination of glyoxal, methylglyoxal, and diacetyl in urine by prederivatization to pteridinic rings.

A sensitive and simple liquid chromatographic method to determine glyoxal, methylglyoxal, and diacetyl is reported. The method is based on the conversion to the corresponding pteridin derivatives (pterin, 6-methylpterin, and 6,7-dimethylpterin). The proposed method using fluorometric detection has been applied to the determination of the three alpha-dicarbonyl compounds in human urine. Linearity (peak area vs concentration of alpha-dicarbonyl) was observed at least up to 43 microM. Detection limits of 32 pmol for glyoxal, 11 pmol for methylglyoxal, and 99 pmol for diacetyl were calculated (20 microliters was injected). Levels of 132 microM for glyoxal and 15 microM for methylglyoxal were determined in normal urine samples, while diacetyl was not detected.