CIRCULAR PAPER CHROMATOGRAPHY Part- VI:- The quantitative determination of Amino acids

Abstract

A  review of the literature on the methods of quantitative analysis of proteins  and amino acids by chromatographic methods is presented.

A method for the quantitative determination of amino acids separated by  circular paper chromatographic technique has been described.

The method is based on the elution of the colour of ninhydrin-stained bands  of amino acids separated on the chromatogram with 75% ethanol containing  copper sulphate and comparing the colour intensity with that of known standard  solution of amino acid run on the same paper.

The effect of metallic ions, concentration of ninhydrin reagent, different  solvents for the reagent, temperature, time of incubation, and area of the bands  of amino acids, on the colour intensity of the bands of amino acids has been  investigated.

Optimum conditions for an accurate quantitative procedure  have ,been  established.

The method has been applied to the quantitative estimation of some of the  amino acids present in the hydrolysate of edestin.

The method is simple and accurate and it may be used on a variety of  biological materials and requires only common laboratory equipment.