Behavior and characteristics of biogenic amines, ornithine and lysine derivatized with the o-phthalaldehyde–ethanethiol–fluorenylmethyl chloroformate reagent

The stability and characteristics of the ornithine (Orn), lysine (Lys), putrescine (Put), cadaverine (Cad), 1,7-diaminoheptane (Diah), spermidine (Spd) and spermine (Spm) derivatives obtained with the o-phthalaldehyde (OPA)–ethanethiol (ET)–fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC) reagent has been investigated. The stoichiometry of the introduced, two-step derivatization process has been followed by photodiode array (DAD) and fluorescence (FL) detections, simultaneously, while the composition of derivatives was confirmed by on-line HPLC–electrospray ionization (ESI) MS measurements. Depending on the composition of the OPA reagents, in addition to the secondary amino group-containing Spd and Spm, under common aqueous conditions also Orn and Lys do react with FMOC resulting in derivatives of various compositions. Applying the OPA–ET reagent of increasing methanol (Met) content (38–80%, v/v) the formation of the FMOC group containing Orn and Lys derivatives could be considerably decreased. Optimum elution condition (18 min, including equilibration) was developed for the simultaneous quantitation of Orn, Lys, Put, Cad, Diah, Spd and Spm, in the presence of the rest of protein amino acids. The practical utility of the method was demonstrated by the analysis of mouse tissues. Average reproducibility of quantitations, characterized with the relative standard deviation percentages of fluorescence intensities and UV responses, in order of listing, proved to be 2.1% and 2.1%, respectively.