Fluoroalkyl chloroformates in treating amino acids for gas chromatographic analysis.

Novel fluoroalkyl chloroformates with three and four carbon atoms were investigated for the immediate conversion of amino acids into hydrophobic derivatives in water-containing media. Derivatization conditions were extensively studied and optimized sample preparation protocols elaborated. More than 30 amino acids were treated with the particular reagent in isooctane by simply vortexing the reactive organic phase with a slightly basified aqueous medium containing pyridine or 3-picoline as a catalyst. Outstanding separation of nearly all components on 5% phenylmethylsilicone phase in gas chromatographic (GC) analysis with mass spectrometric (MS) or flame ionization detection (FID) required <10 min. Quantitation characteristics involving linearity in the range of 0.1-100 nmol, regression coefficients of 0.999-0.953 (histidine), MS limit of detection (LOD) reaching 0.03 pmol at proline to nearly 20 pmol at glutamic acid, plus electron impact (EI) spectra and diagnostic SIM fragment ions of the derivatives are reported. The novel method is simple, robust and rapid, enabling to treat amino acids in aqueous environment and to analyze them in <15 min.

Determination of D- and L-amino acids produced by cyanobacteria using gas chromatography on Chirasil-Val after derivatization with pentafluoropropyl chloroformate.

A rapid and simple method was developed for the determination of free amino acids (AAs) released from cyanobacteria. The procedure involves trapping of AAs from the centrifuged cyanobacterial culture fluid on a cation-exchange resin, their release together with the resin by direct treatment with the reaction medium, followed by immediate derivatization with a corresponding chloroformate. The extractive alkylation transfers the analytes into an organic phase, an aliquot of which is subjected to GC analysis. Identification and quantification of AAs was performed by GC/MS and GC/FID, respectively, using propyl chloroformate (PCF) as the derivatization reagent. For chiral analysis, the cyanobacteria extracts were treated with 2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropyl chloroformate (PFPCF) to create more volatile analytes. Separation of the AA enantiomers was accomplished on a Chirasil-Val capillary column and the D/L enantiomeric ratios were determined. AAs of cyanobacteria are considered to be important for the assessment of energy flow in an aquatic food web, nutrition value of cyanobacteria in a food web and for cell-cell communication within cyanobacteria. The highest levels of AAs were found in the summer period at the beginning of the season (July). In the September and October samples, the amount of AAs was lower, the number of D-AAs decreased and the D/L ratio was higher than in the July sample. Based on the obtained results it can be assumed that young populations excrete AAs in higher concentrations and a different composition compared to actively growing populations.

(R)-2-{2-[(S)-(2'-Benzo-yloxy-1,1'-binaphthyl-2-yl)oxycarbonyl-amino]-3-phenylpropanamido-meth-yl}pyridinium picrate acetone solvate.

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C(43)H(34)N(3)O(5) (+)·C(6)H(2)N(3)O(7) (-)·C(3)H(6)O, the large dimension and shape of the cation are responsible for the elongation of the ortho-rhom-bic unit cell. The ions and acetone mol-ecules are linked together by a system of hydrogen bonds involving an inter-molecular hydrogen bond between one N atom of the cation and the O atom of acetone and two inter-molecular hydrogen bonds between the cation N atoms and the O atoms of the picrate anion. No intra-molecular hydrogen bonds exist in the structure. The dihedral angle between the two naphthalene ring systems is 76.16 (13)°. The chiral C atom has a known R configuration, but this cannot be confirmed from this X-ray analysis.