[Determination of individual purine and pyrimidine bases in carbohydrate-rich food].

The following method was developed for the qualitative and quantitative determination of purine and pyrimidine bases in carbohydrate rich food: The bases were liberated from nucleic acids, nucleotides or nucleosides by acid hydrolysis in a pressure digestion vessel. A complete liberation without losses of purine bases occurs upon hydrolysis for 15 min at 240 degrees C with trifluoroacetic and formic acids (1+1; V + V), pyrimidine bases need 45 min at 240 degrees C. The products arising from side reactions (such as hydroxymethylfurfural from hexoses and furfural from pentoses) could be removed from the hydrolysate by extraction with dichlormethane. The liberated bases could be separated upon stepwise elution by cation exchange chromatography. They were detected and determined by UV-measurements, continuously monitoring at lambda = 260 nm, and integrating electronically. The evaluation was carried out by a method with internal standard.