Synthesis of a reagent for fluorescence-labeling of vitamin D and its use in assaying vitamin D metabolites

The fluorogenic dienophile 1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione with a highly fluorescent quinoxalinone group at the 4-position (DMEQ-TAD) was synthesized and exploited as a reagent to assay vitamin D metabolites. 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3, 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and 24(R),25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 reacted quantitatively with DMEQ-TAD when the two substrates were mixed in dichloromethane at room temperature to yield the corresponding 6,19-cycloadduct. The reaction was very fast so that 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 at a concentration as low as 10(-8) M could be quantitatively labeled with the fluorescent reagent within 30 min at room temperature. With this reagent, down to 10 fmol of vitamin D metabolites could be quantified linearly. The detection limit of the labeled vitamin D using high-performance liquid chromatography was usually about 1 fmol. Thus, it was shown in a model system that the fluorometric method using the new reagent (DMEQ-TAD) can be applied to the assay of the three major vitamin D metabolites in 1 ml of plasma. This is the first practical fluorometric method for assaying the active vitamin D metabolite.