Selective and sensitive determination of peptides using 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid as a fluorogenic reagent

A novel fluorescence (FL) reaction for N-terminal Gly-containing peptides has been developed using 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (3,4-DHPAA). The reaction of the peptides with 3,4-DHPAA was carried out in borate buffer (pH 8.0) in the presence of sodium periodate at 37 °C for 10 min, and the FL was measured with a spectrofluorimeter at the excitation and emission wavelengths of 370 nm and 465 nm, respectively. The 3,4-DHPAA reagent generated particularly strong FL for peptides containing Gly at their N-termini. When various other bio-substances, such as amino acids, sugars, nucleic bases, nucleotides, and proteins, were reacted with 3,4-DHPAA, no FL was observed. Under optimized reaction conditions, the lower detection limit of 0.25 μmol L−1 was obtained for the N-terminal Gly-containing peptides of Gly-Pro (GP) and Gly-Pro-Pro (GPP), which gave 3 times greater FL intensity than that observed for the reagent blank. The proposed reaction with 3,4-DHPAA as a fluorogenic reagent is selective and sensitive for the detection of N-terminal Gly-containing peptides, and therefore, this method could be a useful tool for the determination of these particular oligopeptides.

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► 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic acid was found to produce fluorescence with peptides.
► The reaction proceeded in the presence of sodium periodate and borate buffer at 37 °C.
► Peptides containing Gly at their N-termini provided stronger fluorescence.
► A lower detection limit of 0.25 μmol L−1 was obtained with peptides GP and GPP.
► Almost none of the other biomolecules including proteins showed fluorescence.