Determination of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic Acid in Apple and Peach Extracts by High Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled to a Fluorescence Detector

A new, sensitive, and simple HPLC method was described for the determination of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) in apple and peach extracts. The method was based on the derivatization of ACC with fluorescamine in borate buffer systems of pH 8.0 to yield a highly fluorescent product. The experimental parameters affecting the derivatization reaction efficiency were optimized by fluorimetric analysis. Under optimum derivatization conditions, the derivative product of ACC in apple and peach extracts without extra purification was successfully chromatographed on a C-18 column by HPLC coupled to fluorescence detection. The derivative product of ACC with fluorescamine could be well separated from other concomitant substances or their derivatives that might interfere with the determination of ACC. The linearity of ACC was measured in the range of 23.82–238.82 µg · L−1 with a good correlation coefficient of 0.9997. Based on signal-to-noise ratio of 3, a low detection limit of 5.0 µg · L−1 could be reached. The proposed method was applied successfully to the determination of ACC in the crude apple and peach extracts without extra purification with low RSDs of 0.19–1.9% and good recoveries of 90.89–104.4%. The sensitive HPLC quantitative method is of great significance for the investigations of ACC metabolism in plants.