Quantitative analysis of bacterial medium-chain-length poly([R]-3-hydroxyalkanoates) by gas chromatography.
Standard chromatographic methods for the quantification of bacterial poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) (PHA) proved to be inappropriate for the analysis of medium-chain-length PHA (mcl-PHA). Transesterification catalyzed by protic acids is not quantitative for mcl-PHA under common conditions due to slow reaction kinetics and formation of side-products in case of functionalized side-chains. To circumvent these limitations, an improved method for the quantification of mcl-PHA by GC-FID was developed. Boron trifluoride in methanol was successfully applied to quantitatively methanolyse different mcl-PHA (recovery >94%). This novel method is well-suited for the analysis of purified mcl-PHA as well as for mcl-PHA in biomass.
Furrer
Patrick
P
Empa, Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Biomaterials, Lerchenfeldstr. 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Hany
Roland
R
Rentsch
Daniel
D
Grubelnik
Andreas
A
Ruth
Katinka
K
Panke
Sven
S
Zinn
Manfred
M
D000473:Alkanes / Q000032:analysis*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods*; D007700:Kinetics
D000473:Alkanes