Gioia M G, Andreatta P, Boschetti S, Gatti R
Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Via Belmeloro 6, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2007 Nov 5;45(3):456-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jpba.2007.07.016. Epub 2007 Jul 20.
A reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method (RP-LC) is proposed and validated for the analysis of branched-chain amino acids (l-leucine, l-isoleucine and l-valine) in new pharmaceutical formulations. The pre-column derivatization reaction of these amino acids with 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) has been investigated considering the matrix effect. The compound reacts at 60 degrees C for 10 min at pH 9 with the amino function, in presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), to give adducts that have been separated on a RP amide C16 column and detected at lambda=360 nm. Linear responses were observed for each derivative. The intra-day precision (R.S.D.) was <or=2.22% and there was no significant difference between intra- and inter-day data. Recovery studies showed good results for all amino acids (98.9-100.9%) with R.S.D. ranging from 0.1% to 0.8%. The limit of quantitation was about 20 nmol/mL.
