Lever M, Bason L, Leaver C, Hayman C M, Chambers S T
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand.
Anal Biochem. 1992 Aug 15;205(1):14-21. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(92)90572-o.
Glycine betaine, carnitine, carnitine esters, butyrobetaine, and proline betaine (stachydrine) concentrations in biological materials can be reliably measured in 100-microliters samples, with a detection limit below 1 mumol/liter. The procedure is suitable for batches of more than 30 specimens and it is possible to obtain a single result within 2 h. The betaines are extracted into an acetonitrile:methanol mixture, dried with anhydrous disodium hydrogen phosphate containing argentous oxide. The 4-bromophenacyl ester derivatives are formed using 4-bromophenacyl triflate as reagent, in the presence of solid magnesium oxide as base. The derivatives are separated by high-performance chromatography on a silica column, in a mixed partition and ion-exchange mode.
