HIGHLY SENSITIVE N-(9-ACRIDINYL)MALEIMIDE (NAM) FLUOROMETRY TO DETERMINE SULFITE BELOW PPM LEVEL IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES

Abstract

ABSTRACT A highly sensitive fluorometric determination of sulfite in biological and environmental samples is described. Sulfite reacted with N-(9-acridinyl)maleimide (NAM), a Michael addition reaction, to give strongly fluorescent derivatives at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 50°C. There was no interference by the inorganic salts, cations and anions nor by the reducing, oxidizing and organic substances present in wine, beer and blood serum. The sensitivities were in the µM range in the batch methods and in the pmol range when using an ODS column in high performance liquid chromatograpy (HPLC).