A novel tertiary prep-HPLC method for the isolation of single amino acids for AMS-radiocarbon measurement.

AMS-radiocarbon measurements of amino acids can potentially provide more reliable radiocarbon dates than bulk collagen analysis. Nonetheless, the applicability of such an approach is often limited by the low-throughput of existing isolation methods and difficulties in determining the contamination introduced during the separation process. A novel tertiary prep-HPLC amino acid isolation method was developed that relies on the combustion of eluted material without requiring any additional chemical steps.