Amino acid analysis is a method used to determine the composition or content of amino acids in various proteins, peptides and drugs by physical and chemical means. At present many kinds of amino acid analysis method of complementary, make the amino acid analysis of sensitivity, accuracy, speed until the degree of automation instruments and equipment are increased to a new level, to form the modern amino acid analysis technology has extensive adaptability.

Classification of Amino Acid Analysis Technology

Paper Chromatography and Thin Layer Chromatography

In the 1940s and 1950s. Paper chromatographic analysis of amino acids has been developed rapidly. Because of its advantages of simple operation, high quotient efficiency and cheap equipment, it was widely used at that time. The paper chromatography method can be used to analyze 30 amino acids and their derivatives by using different chromatography solutions and chromogenic agents.

Gas Chromatography Analysis
In THE 1950s and 1960s, with the development and popularity of gas chromatography, gas chromatography began to be widely used in the analysis of amino acids. Because gas chromatography analysis is a high efficiency, good selectivity, high sensitivity, simple operation, widely used analysis and separation method. And it can be easily used with mass spectrometry to determine the structure of amino acids, making it possible to discover new amino acids. In recent years, amino acid analysis has been widely studied in biochemistry, medicine, food and so on.

High Performance Liquid Chromatography
Since the 1980s, the study of determination of amino acids by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has become increasingly active, especially in the last 20 years, the analysis of amino acids by pre-column derivatization of HPLC is a rapidly developed technology of separation analysis.
The method has the advantages of fast analysis speed, good accuracy, high sensitivity, short analysis time and wide applicability, which provides a broad prospect for amino acid analysis.

HPLC requires pre-column conversion of amino acids into derivatives suitable for reverse-phase chromatography separation and sensitive detection. The key to pre-column derivation lies in the selection of derivative reagents. The criteria for selection of derivative reagents are that they can react quantitatively with each amino acid, each amino acid can only generate one compound, and the product has certain stability, without generating or easily removing interfering substances: Simple operation, high rate of chromatographic separation, high detection sensitivity, short analysis time, easy to realize automation and the products can be determined on different types of HPLC chromatographs.

High Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography-integrated Pulse Amperometric Detection
High performance anion exchange chromatography-integrated pulse amperometric detection (HPAEC-IPA) is a direct method for amino acid analysis without pre-column and post-column derivation. This method is based on the fact that the carboxyl group of amino acid molecules can form negative derivatives in the strongly alkaline medium, while the amino group of amino acid molecules can undergo oxidation reaction on the surface of the gold electrode by applying certain potential in the strongly alkaline medium, so as to realize the anion exchange chromatography separation and integral pulse amperometric detection of amino acids.

Capillary Electrophoresis Analysis
Capillary electroice is a new liquid separation and analysis technology driven by high voltage direct current electric field. It developed rapidly in the middle and late 1980s. There are many reports on the analysis of amino acids by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Two CE modes were used for amino acid analysis: (1) capillary zone electrophoresis (CZB); (2) Compared with HPLC, micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) has the advantages of high separation efficiency, no gradient elution, fast analysis speed and less solvent consumption. However, the reproducibility of CE analysis is poor.

Application of Amino Acid Analysis Technology

Amino acids are the basic units of proteins and have extremely important physiological functions. Amino acid detection and analysis is widely used in medicine, agriculture, food, medicine, feed, cosmetics and other industries closely related to human life and health.

Biochemistry

Amino acid analysis is necessary to study the composition and structure of proteins and the mechanism of action of enzymes.

Medical Science

Clinical Diagnosis
The amino ACID analyzer is used to analyze the physiological body fluids such as blood, urine, spinal cord and tissue fluid. According to the changes in the content of some amino acids in the physiological body fluids, it can be used as a basis to judge a certain disease. In particular, the screening of amino acid metabolic diseases in neonates has been widely carried out in European and American countries.

Study on Amino Acid Metabolism
Amino acid metabolism is directly related to people's health and pathological conditions. If metabolic disorder occurs, a series of amino acid metabolic syndrome will occur, including decreased resistance, difficult healing of wounds, edema, anemia, insufficient synthesis of hormones and alcohol, prolonged blood coagulation time, muscle atrophy, bedsores and other symptoms. In the study of amino acid metabolism and human health and sickness, it is necessary to use amino acid analyzer to do a lot of analysis.

Application of Feed

Quality Control
All kinds of feed are made of different kinds of raw materials according to a certain proportion of configuration, the content of essential heliotic acid and their proportion must be appropriate, in order to meet the needs of livestock and poultry body synthesis of protein. Determination of the content of heliogenic acids in raw materials and products to achieve a guaranteed quality of the day. At the same time, nitrogen-based acid analysis technology can be simple to product quality and prevent fake products from entering the market.

Identification of Authenticity
Fish meal is a good protein feed. There is a wide variety of fish meal on the market, and the results of helium-acid analysis can easily distinguish it from fake.

Applications in Agriculture, Food, Beverage, etc.
Amino acid detection technology is widely used in agriculture. Fruits of various crops contain a certain amount of protein. Amino acid composition detection of corn, soybean, wheat, etc., can identify their quality. In food detection and analysis, amino acid analysis can provide a reliable basis for fortified food, and can accurately identify the authenticity of fruit juice and beverage. In addition, theanine is the characteristic phenylic acid of tea, so the examination and determination of theanine can be used to identify authentic tea. In addition, in geological investigation and paleontological research, it is necessary to use amino acid analyzer to analyze ancient fossils, and calculate their age according to the amount of isoleucine. Amino acid analysis is also needed in quality supervision and testing, nutrition and health care.

In general, amino acid and closely related to human life, this is the fact that has been proved that modern science, many countries in the world paid great attention to amino acid production and scientific research.\

Source: https://aapep.bocsci.com/resources/amino-acid-analysis-technology.html