Rapid determination of the 3-methylhistidine content of meat using 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene

The protein-bound 3-methylhistidine content of meat species has been shown to be of value in predicting the meat content of food products. The present paper deals with the development of a rapid method for the detection and estimation of the dinitrophenyl (DNP) derivatives of the methylamino acids and dipeptides, and in particular 3-methylhistidine. The DNP derivatives of methylated and non-methylated basic amino acids and dipeptides were shown to have differing solubilities in diethyl ether and aqueous solution. These differences allowed preliminary purification of hydrolysed meat extracts, thereby allowing rapid determination of 3-methylhistidine using a short ion-exchange resin column.