Hemin-mediated fluorometric determination of melatonin by high-performance liquid chromatography

A new fluorometric method for the determination of melatonin using a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography was developed. Melatonin, by heating in the presence of hemin and sodium percarbonate at 100 °C for 15 min, gave a strong fluorescent product (Ex. 247 nm, Em. 384 nm). Employing a solid phase extraction prior to HPLC, the level of linear range reached to between 5 to 100 pmol/l (R2 = 0.9906).