Sensitive location reagent for the simultaneous detection of sugars, amino sugars and sialic acids.

Abstract

MOST methods for the detection of sugars on paper and thin-layer chromatograms are tedious and frequently involve the use of toxic reagents. No single location reagent so far described is capable of detecting reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars, amino sugars, and sialic acids simultaneously. In the case of thin-layer chromatography there is an additional disadvantage in that, unless a cellulose layer is used, the sensitivity of many of the reagents is reduced, probably because of the nature of the adsorbants used. Schwartz has described a very sensitive method for the detection of serine on paper chromatograms1. The chemical basis for the method is the liberation of formaldehyde from serine after periodate oxidation. The liberated formaldehyde, after condensation with acetylacetone in the presence of ammonium salt yields 3,5-diacetyl-1,4-dihydrolutidine, which is a yellow coloured, highly fluorescent compound. In his original paper, Schwartz pointed out that the reaction was not necessarily limited to serine or hydroxyamino-acids and suggested that a variety of compounds would be expected to give a positive reaction on chromatograms containing biological materials other than protein hydrolysates.