Spectrophotometric method for determination and kinetics of amino acids through their reaction with syringaldehyde

Abstract

A spectrophotometric method is described for the determination of amino acids. The method is based on the reaction between amino acids and syringaldehyde at pH 9.0, by which a color is developed with maximum absorption at 420 nm in aqueous methyl alcohol. The absorption of the product obeys Beer's law within the concentration range of 0.025–0.5 mM of original amino acid. The kinetics of the reaction follows overall second order kinetics, first order in each of the reactants. The rates of the reaction were investigated as a function of pH of the reaction medium and structure of the amino compounds. Logarithms of the second-order rate constants increased with amino acid anion concentration as the pH was increased. The mechanisms of the reaction have been discussed.