THE ESTIMATION OF FREE AMINO ACIDS USING A MICRODIFFUSION TECHNIQUE

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Abstract
The carbon dioxide evolved when α-amino acids were heated for one hour at 85 °C. with ninhydrin was determined in a partially evacuated microdiffusion cell. Distillation of solvent from one chamber to the other was minimized by keeping the ionic concentrations of the reaction mixture and absorbing mixture approximately equal. The method was useful for samples of amino acids which liberated from 0.06 to 0.3 mgm. of carbon dioxide. The average deviation from the mean was somewhat less than 1% for samples liberating 0.2 mgm. of carbon dioxide. Use of the method for routine analysis of enzymatic digests resulted in substantial saving of time and material.