Applications of gas-liquid chromatography in protein chemistry. Determination of C-terminal sequences on nanomolar amounts of proteins.

A method for the determination of C-terminal amino acids and C-terminal amino acid sequences in nanomolar amounts of proteins is described, based on carboxypeptidase A digestion of the protein, followed by removal of the partially digested protein and quantitative gas-liquid chromatographic determination of the amino acids released after known time intervals. Sequences deduced from the kinetics of release of specific amino acids are compared with the known C-terminal sequences of well-characterized proteins.