High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of proteins by post-column fluorescence derivatization with thiamine reagent.

A post-column derivatization method for the high-performance liquid chromatography of peptides and proteins giving a fluorescence intensity proportional to the number of peptide bonds is described. Peptide bonds were chlorinated with hypochlorite and the N-chlorite formed was allowed to react with thiamine to give fluorescent thiochrome. This method was applied the determination of membrane-forming proteins of microorganisms.