Electrolytic preparation of a reduced ninhydrin reagent for amino acid analysis

Summary

A flow-through electrolysis using a column electrode was applied to the preparation of a reduced ninhydrin reagent suitable for a highly reproducible and sensitive determination of amino acids. Non-reduced ninhydrin solution, which could be stably stored for long duration even in contact with atmospheric oxygen, was fed at a constant flow rate of 0.25 ml min⁻¹ into the flow-through electrolysis cell, whereby ninhydrin was reduced to hydrindantin. The hydrindantin content in the reagent (presumably 1.61 mol%) was sufficiently constant for the subsequent quantitative reaction of the amino acids being eluted from the HPLC system. The electrolytically prepared reagent was practically identical with those prepared by chemical reduction.