The use of anisoin as pre-chromatographic reagent for LC analysis of guanidino compounds is proposed. The reagent reacts (5 min at 100 degrees C) with guanidino function and the resulting adducts can be chromatographed under reversed-phase conditions. A fluorescence detector (lambda(ex)=325 nm; lambda(em)=435 nm) was used to detect guanidino adducts. The derivatization and chromatographic conditions were optimised by a series of experiments. Application to the determination of arginine and creatine in pharmaceuticals and arginine, guanidine, methylguanidine, guanidinosuccinic acid, beta-guanidinopropionic acid, gamma-guanidinobutyric acid, guanidinoacetic acid and homoarginine in human urine is described. Quantitation limits ranged from 6 to 30 fmol, except for creatine (510 fmol).
