Anthraquinone-2-sulfonyl chloride: a new versatile derivatization reagent—synthesis mechanism and application for analysis of amines

A new sulfonating agent, anthraquinone-2-sulfonyl chloride, has been synthesized. The reagent consists of three important moieties: a cyclic conjugation system (with 18 π-electrons), a p-quinone system and a group of sulfonyl chloride and is thereby a versatile derivatization reagent for analytical chemistry. The mechanism about the synthetic reaction was first elucidated in aid of mass spectrometry. Several primary and secondary amines were selected to evaluate the new reagent and their standard derivatives were prepared via a facile pathway. Analytical derivatization carried on through a one-step procedure at room temperature within 3 min. The new reagent reacts quantitatively with amines to form stable sulfonamides, which are readily amenable to analysis by normal-phase and reversed-phase HPLC. Compared with standard derivatives, excellent response linearity is demonstrated over the concentration range 0.4–400 μM at 320 nm for normal-phase HPLC and 4 nM to 4 μM at 256 nm for reversed-phase HPLC. Detection limits are 0.8 nmol and 8 pmol, respectively.