Amino acids analysis using a monolithic silica column after derivatization with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F)

A fast HPLC method using a monolithic silica column was developed for the measurement of amino acids. The amino acids were pre-column derivatized with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F) and separated on a monolithic silica column (MonoClad C18-HS, 250 mm × 3 mm I.D.). The separation of 19 NBD-amino acids was achieved within 18 min, which was only one-fifth of the time taken by the methods using a conventional particle-packed column, with the gradient elution of a mobile phase at the flow rate of 1.4 mL/min. The sensitivity was good with a limit of detection for the individual amino acids ranging from 2.94 to 53.4 fmol. The calibration curves for all the amino acids were found to be linear in the range of 200 fmol to 20 pmol with correlation coefficients of 0.997 or better. The analytical method was successfully applied to determine the amino acids in a mouse plasma sample.