FLUOROMETRIC DETERMINATION OF CYSTEINE IN BEER BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH PRECOLUMN DERIVATISATION

Abstract

A high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure (HPLC) is described for the fluorometric determination of cysteine (CySH) in beer. Reduced CySH in beer is reacted with a fluorescent reagent, N-(9-acridinyl) maleimide (NAM), at pH 8·8 for 15 h to form a stable fluorescent derivative. The resulting reaction mixture is analysed by reversed-phase gradient elution HPLC. Under the optimised conditions for chromatography, ca 0·1 mg of CySH per litre of beer can be determined. Total CySH is determined by electrolytic reduction at a Hg pool electrode prior to the HPLC analysis. The levels of reduced and total CySH in 28 brands of commercial lager beers ranged from 0·2 to 0·9 mg/litre, and from 2·1 to 13·5 mg/litre, respectively.