查看文章

The detection or identification of amino acids has immense importance in evaluation of protein structure, for determining their occurrence in the free state in natural products, and for the determination of the C-terminal units of degraded proteins. A variety of specific and non-specific reagents [1–16] has been used to identify amino acids on thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates. Among the reagents used so far, ninhydrin is still widely used because of its remarkably high sensitivity [2]; it does, however, gives same purple color with all amino acids except proline and hydroxyproline which produce yellow colors. An endeavor has been undertaken to resolve this color problem by use of two different spray reagents. These reagents produce different distinguishable colors with amino acids and with high sensitivity.