High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of amino acids and peptide-hormone hydrolysates in the picomole range.

A high-pressure liquid chromatographic system for the separation of amino acids and peptide-hormone hydrolysates is described. A modified high-pressure liquid chromatography (Hewlett-Packard, model 1010B) equipped with an automatic gradient-generating system, and the applications of fluorescamine and ion-exchange resins of particle size 8 +/- 2 mum permit the detection of amino acids in the picomole range with good resolution. Compared with conventional amino acid analyzers, the times for separation are reduced by a factor of 3--4.