Mixture of amino acid derivatives, process of producing the mixture and use of the mixture for quantitative determination of the amino acids

A process for preparing a mixture of amino acid derivatives amenable to excitation under fluorescent light comprising the steps of

• (a) providing a sample containing at least one primary amino acid and at least one secondary amino acid;
• (b) treating the sample with a buffer and with a solution of OPA and MPA in acetonitrile, in any sequence, to obtain a first mixture;
• and
• (c) treating said first mixture with a buffer and with a solution of FMOC in acetonitrile in any sequence.

A process for quantitatively analyzing a sample of amino acids containing at least one primary amino acid and at least one secondary amino acid comprising the steps of

• (a) providing a sample containing at least one primary amino acid and at least one secondary amino acid;
• (b) treating the sample with a buffer and with a solution of OPA and MPA in acetonitrile, in any sequence, to obtain a first mixture;
• (c) treating said first mixture with a buffer and with a solution of FMOC in acetonitrile in any sequence to form a second mixture;
• (d) introducing at least a portion of the second mixture into a separatory device and eluting primary amino acid derivatives independently of secondary amino acid derivatives to form an eluent with no interspersed elution of primary and secondary amino acid derivatives;
• and
• (e) analyzing the eluent to quantitatively determine the amounts of primary and secondary amino acid and derivatives thereof.