High-performance liquid chromatography of arginine-containing neuropeptides by precolumn derivatization and fluorimetric detection

A previously developed fluorescence method for determining leupeptin and the angiotensins is shown to be applicable to assaying other small arginine-containing peptides. In this procedure arginine residues are derivatized by reaction with benzoin. Femtomole sensivity is obtainable with this method. However, it cannot be used with larger arginine-containing peptides because those fragment upon derivatization.