Page 23 - Modern Derivatization Methods for Separation Sciences

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Page xiii

Preface

Biologically active compounds are ubiquitous in our lives. They are used for medicines, agrochemicals
(e.g. pesticides and harbicides), food additives, biogenic amines and flavors. It is fairly difficult to
determine them with accuracy and precision, because they usually exist in munite amounts, especially
in real biological and environmental samples. The choice of a suitable method that provides good
reproducibility is essential to obtain correct results. Separation analysis represented by various
chromatography is recommended for the quantitation of analytes in complex matrices.

Derivatization was an important technique for analysis using gas chromatography in the early stages.
The main purpose of the derivatization was to add volatility to saccarides and amino acids. In this
derivatization, selectivity and sensitivity were not considered. However, derivatization is the essential
technique in separation sciences using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), liquid chromatography (LC)
and capillary electrophoresis (CE), as well as gas chromatography (GC). For analysis by high-
performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), various reagents have been developed to increase
separability, selectivity and sensitivity. This is due to the development of various types of detection
instruments such as ultravioletvisible (UV-VIS), fluorescence (FL), chemiluminescence (CL) and
electrochemical (EC). The use of derivatization in separation sciences is mainly to improve the
chromatographic properties and detection sensitivity.

The major aim of this book is to provide an easyto-read overview of various derivatization methods that
are available for minute analyses of biological importance. Emphasis is placed on practical use, and the
characteristics (merits and demerits) of the various approachs are critically discussed. The derivatization
listed in this book is a reaction which produces covalent binding between the analyte and the reagent.
This book describes recent advances in chemical derivatization for the separation sciences mainly by
GC, LC and CE.

The first chapter presents a general introduction of the pre-treatment of real samples such as biological,
food and environmental. The pretreatment is the clean-up method for derivatization to obtain a trace
amount of analyte without contamination. This part is most important because the accuracy and
precision of the result obtained is dependent on the pre-treatment method, especially in trace analysis.
In Chapters 2 and 3, homogeneous reactions suitable for the derivatization of various functional groups
of trace analytes with UV-VIS and FL labels are described in detail. Preand post-column applications
and typical derivatization procedures are given for each functional group. Chapter 4 deals with the
chemiluminescence (CL) detection

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