Selective Determination of Cytosine Based on Its Fluorogenic Reaction with Triethylamine/Chloroacetonitrile

Abstract A sensitive fluorometric method is described For selective determination of cytosine in nucleobases. The method is based on chemical derivatization of cytosine by triethylamine/chloroacetonitrile. The effects of solvent, reaction temperature, reaction time and concentration of reagents on the efficiency of the reaction were studied. A good linear relationship between fluorescence intensities and cytosine concentrations in the range of 2.0–800 ng/mt was observed. The detection limit for cytosine is 0.6 ng/ml (S/N=3). The relative standard deviations (7 replicates) for measurements of 50 and 500 ng/ml cytosine were 2.1 and 2.5%, respectively.