Measurement of the FMOC loading of protected amine-functionalised polymer beads

This paper presents an HPLC based procedure that has been developed for the determination of the 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (FMOC) content of protected amine-functionalised polymer beads. FMOC reagents are frequently employed both in the protection of amines and in their determination. The procedure utilises the stoichiometric base cleavage of dibenzofulvene from the protected amine using 1,8-diazabicyclo undec-7-ene. This stearically hindered base prevents the adduct formation that occurs with alternative base systems and measurement performance is enhanced by the incorporation of anthracene into the system as a non-reactive internal standard. HPLC separation of the reaction products permits the measurement of FMOC in the presence of additional chromophores that might otherwise impede direct measurement by UV-vis spectrophotometry. The procedure has been evaluated for the measurement of the FMOC content of protected amine-modified polymer beads employed in combinatorial solid phase synthesis.