Marfey's reagent: Past, present, and future uses of 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrophenyl-5-L-alanine amide

This article describes some of the uses of Marfey's reagent, 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrophenyl-5-L-alanine amide (FDAA), a pre-column derivatizing reagent for the separation of enantiomeric isomers of amino acids and amine compounds. An introduction to the basic implementation of this reagent and its historical development are presented. Actual uses in amino acid, short peptide, and pharmaceutical compounds are included, as well as the advantages and disadvantages over other pre-column derivatization techniques and direct chromatographic separations. Applications of current interest, including its use as an orthogonal analysis and in enantiomeric purity analysis of selenoamino acids using element specific detection, are also discussed.