Merck, F9015-1G, Fluorescamine

Fluorescamine, a heterocyclic dione, reacts with primary amines, amino acids, peptides, and protein to form a fluorescent product. Excess reagent and its degradation products are non-fluorescent. The fluorescence of a solution containing protein plus fluorescamine is equivalent to the quantity of free amine groups present. This is the basic principle of a fluorescent protein assay. Fluorescamine is used as a derivatizing agent for the identification of various compounds used in the pharmaceutical industry, such as oseltamavir, penicillamine, sulfonamide residues, lisinopril, methotrexate, vigabatrin, and gabapentin.