Hydrolis Note: This procedure should be initiated no less than 12 hours before your scheduled laboratory period. Prepare a reaction vessel from a 0.5-dram vial as follows. Use a spatula to remove the paper liner from the vial cap. Scrape off as much of the liner residue as possible. Cut a 4-cm length of teflon tape and wrap it clockwise around the threads of the vial. Finally, cut a square section of teflon tape that will fit over the mouth of the vial. Do NOT screw the cap on the vial until after it has been loaded with the reactants. Weigh approximately 1-2 mg of your dipeptide, transfer it into the reaction vessel, and add 30 mL of 6 M HCl. Place the teflon square over the mouth of the vial and fold the edges down, then screw the vial cap on tightly. Label the vial with heat-resistant tape, and place it in the oven at 100 oC for 12 to 16 hours. The teflon tape provides an airtight seal, so will prevent the water solvent from boiling away. After hydrolysis for at least 12 hours, remove the vial from the oven, let it cool, open it, and add about 0.2 mL of distilled water to the hydrolysis solution. The solution is now ready for analysis.
Analysis Analyze your hydrolyzed dipeptide using thin layer chromatography on an activated silica gel TLC plate, using n-propanol:conc NH3 (3:1) as the developing solvent. Be sure to run comparison tests with known amino acid samples.