Amino acid and amino sugar determination by derivatization with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate followed by high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection

A method for the derivatization of amino acids with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC) for use with HPLC was tested. The reproducibility, linearity and limits of detection are similar to those obtained with other methods, such as the o-phthalaldehyde and 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl methods. The ease of sample preparation and the possibility of amino sugar derivatization and resolution are the reasons why this method was chosen for simultaneous amino acid and amino sugar analysis. The need for a previous step of amino sugar reduction was studied and it was concluded that it is not necessary.