Summary
The optimal release and quantitative estimation of muramic acid and glucosamine were studied simultaneously in soil samples. The effect of hydrolysis conditions, HCl concentration, hydrolysis time, the ratio of soil dry weight to acid, and the recovery of reference substances were investigated. Derivatization of the fluorogenic reagent o-phthalaldehyde, in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol with the residue of a soil hydrolysate, was achieved by optimizing the relative amounts of o-phthalaldehyde to hydrolysate in the reaction mixture, the pH of both, and the incubation period. A linear relationship was found between the fluorescence response and the concentration of the test substances. The muramic acid, as well as the glucosamine (o-phthalaldehyde) derivatives gave single peaks, and complete separation from interfering substances at the picomol level was achieved in a short time (3 h preparation and 30 min for chromatography) by using high-performance liquid chromatography.
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Zelles, L. The simultaneous determination of muramic acid and glucosamine in soil by high-performance liquid chromatography with precolumn fluorescence derivatization. Biol Fert Soils 6, 125–130 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00257661
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00257661