HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY OF NONPROTEIN AMINO-ACIDS EXTRACTED FROM ACACIA SEEDS

A sensitive, reversed phase, high performance liquid chromatographic procedure for the analysis of non-protein amino acids has been developed. The method is based on precolumn derivatization with 9-fluoroenylmethyl chloroformate of the non-protein amino acids characteristic of seeds of Acacia species, namely N-acetyldjenkolic acid, diaminopropionic acid and diaminobutyric acid and their acetyl, ureido and oxalyl N-substituted derivatives. The separation of derivatives was achieved by means of a gradient elution programme utilizing two buffers of different pH values and acetonitrile. Following separation, the derivatized amino acids were detected spectrofluorometrically. The levels of non-protein amino acids in seeds of Acacia species, which were representative of three taxonomically distinct groups, were measured by analysis of ethanol extracts.