Amino Acids, Peptides and Proteins - Dévényi T., Gergely J. 1976

Thin-Layer Chromatography (D. A. Medgyesi)
Thin-Layer Chromatography of Amino Acids and Their Derivatives
Dansyl Amino Acids

A highly sensitive method for identifying Amino Acids is Thin-Layer Chromatography of their dimethylaminonaphthalene-5-sulfonyl derivatives (Ch. XIII). For their fractionation on silica gel, the following solvent systems can be used, for example: chloroform–benzyl alcohol–acetic acid (100 : 30 : 3); benzene–pyridine–acetic acid (80 : 20 : 2); 2-butanone–propionic acid–Water (15 : 5 : 6).

By using appropriate Solvents and reference standards of dansyl amino acids, the dansyl derivatives of all Amino acids can be identified. Woods and Wang [19] reported that The Use of polyamide layers bound to a polyester support is extremely effective for separating dansyl amino acids (Ch. XIII). Quite satisfactory fractionation results can be achieved using two-dimensional chromatography, first in a water–90% formic acid mixture (200 : 3), and then in a benzene–glacial acetic acid mixture (9 : 1).

The localization of dansyl amino acids is determined on a wet chromatogram by their intrinsic fluorescence under ultraviolet light at 360 nm. This method allows the detection of up to 10-4 µmol of dansyl amino acids [15]. After drying the chromatographic plate, the fluorescence intensity decreases significantly.



Last update: 06/08/2026

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