N-hydroxysuccinimidyl phenylacetate as a novel derivatizing reagent for aliphatic amines in gas chromatography

A new succinimidyl ester amine-reactive reagent, N-hydroxysuccinimidyl phenylacetate (SIPA), has been synthesized for analytical derivatization of aliphatic amines, such as methylamine, ethylamine, propylamine, butylamine and pentylamine in gas chromatography (GC). The derivatiation conditions were investigated in detail. The experimental results showed that SIPA was a useful reagent with the advantages including mild derivatization condition, rapid reaction time and selectivity to amino group. In a pH 8.5 H3BO3-Na2B4O7 buffer solution and dichloromethane, the derivatization and extraction can be accomplished at the same time and excess reagent need not be removed before analysis, which greatly simplified the sample preparation. The derivatives were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography/flame ionization detector (GC/FID). The detection limits (S/N = 3) were in the range of pmol level. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.