Analyses of biogenic related compounds based on intramolecular excimer-forming fluorescence derivatization

Abstract

A highly selective and sensitive method based on a novel concept is introduced for the assay of biological substances. This method is based on an intramolecular excimer-forming fluorescence derivatization with a pyrene reagent, followed by reverse-phase HPLC. Polyamines, polyphenols, and dicarboxylic acids, which have two or more reactive functional groups in a molecule, were converted to the corresponding polypyrene-labeled derivatives by reaction with the appropriate pyrene reagent. The derivatives exhibited intramolecular excimer fluorescence (440-520 nm), which can clearly be discriminated from the monomer (normal) fluorescence (360-420 nm) emitted by pyrene reagents and monopyrene-labeled derivatives of monofunctional compounds. With excimer fluorescence detection, highly selective and sensitive determination of polyamines, polyphenols, and dicarboxylic acids can be achieved. Furthermore, the methods were successfully applied to the determination of various biological and environmental substances in real samples, which require only a small amount of sample and simple pretreatment.