Phanquinone: a useful fluorescent pre-chromatographic derivatization reagent for liquid chromatographic analyses of amino acid dosage forms Original Research Article

The use of 4,7-phenanthroline-5,6-dione (phanquinone) as a fluorogenic labeling reagent in pre-column derivatization for the LC separation of amino acids has been investigated. The compound, devoid of significant intrinsic fluorescence, reacts (60 min at 68 °C) with primary amino function to give fluorescent derivatives that can be separated by reversed-phase HPLC and detected at λex=400 nm, λem=460 nm. The experimental conditions for the derivatization and chromatographic separation are discussed. The proposed method proved to be suitable for the quality control of dosage forms (capsules, medicine in packets).