Trimethylsilylation of amino acids: I. Study of glycine and lysine TMS derivatives with gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

The silylation of glycine and lysine may results in two derivatives for each amino acid. The reaction conditions and the conversion from one form into the other have been studied. Mass spectrometry of these TMS derivatives revealed that they consisted of di- and tri-TMS-glycines and tri- and tetra-TMS-lysines, respectively. The structures of these TMS derivatives were studied. Tri-TMS-glycine was the only α-amino acid that formed an α-N-di-TMS derivative. 2 2 The ion m/e 174 has been found to be characteristie for the N-di-TMS configuration. The structure of bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) has also been established with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.