Thermochemical determination of glucose in serum, plasma, and whole blood without prior deproteinization

Glucose can be determined by phosphorylation in the presence of hexokinase (EC 2.7.1.1) by using Mg2+/(ATP)2- as the phosphorylating agent. A novel instrumental quantitation method is described, direct injection enthalpimetry, whereby the heat of the enzymatically catalyzed reaction was measured. The reaction was allowed to proceed to virtual completion (99.5+%) in an adiabatic Dewar vessel at 25.00 plus or minus 0.01 degrees C (range). Samples were sequentially injected into a reaction mixture consisting of hexokinase, ATP, Mg2+, and a tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane buffer (pH 8). Single analyses required less than 2 min for 0-3 g/liter samples. The linear dynamic range was 0.3-10 g/liter, with zero intercept and a precision and accuracy of 2%. Electrical calibration in situ obviated the need for chemical standards, and because protein and color do not interfere, no sample pretreatment was necessary before analysis.