Gas-liquid chromatography of the N-heptafluorobutyryl isobutyl esters of fifty biologically interesting amino acids.

Fifty amino acids are analyzed as their N-heptafluorobutyryl isobutyl esters by gas chromatography on a column of 3% OV-101 on Gas-Chrom Q. The identification and quantification of unusual amino acids, specifically those occurring in the marine environment, in the presence of common protein amino acids is reported. Regular relationships between elution temperatures and amino acid structures are found, thus allowing the estimation of elution temperatures of other amino acids.