Determination of very-long-chain fatty acids in serum by gas chromatography-nitrogen-phosphorus detection following cyanomethylation

A sensitive method for very-long-chain fatty acid analysis was developed by gas chromatography-nitrogen-phosphorus detection by using cyanomethyl derivatization. Bromoacetonitrile as alkylating reagent was used to improve nitrogen phosphorus detection detectability of compounds containing non-nitrogen. The carboxyl group of very-long-chain fatty acid was alkylated to cyanomethyl esters. Reaction conditions were 40 min at 60 degrees C under potassium carbonate base. Heptacosanoic acid was used as an internal standard and hexane was used as a solvent of extraction. The extraction yield was 82.8% or more, relative standard deviation of the precision test was 8.3% or more and the result of linearity test showed a good correlation coefficient of r(2)=0.999 in the range of 0.1-50 mu g/ml. The quantification limits were 10 ng/ml when 0.5 mi of serum was used. The present method proved simple, rapid, inexpensive and resistant to contaminants. When it was applied to serum samples taken from patients with X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy which is a hereditary X-linked disorder characterized by progressive demyelination and adrenal insufficiency during childhood, relative increase of the concentration of hexacosanoic acid and the concentration ratios of hexacosanoic, lignoceric to behenic acid was observed in comparison with control samples. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.