Novel fluorogenic coumarin derivatives appending 15-crown-5 ether as more active catalytic site were designed and synthesized for the fluorescence derivatization of carboxylic acids. From the stability constants (Ks) for complexation with metal acetates in methanol, it was found that their catalytic abilities were superior to the corresponding benzo-15-crown-5 ether type reagent. However, the reactivity of these reagents in the derivatization of lauric acid was dependent on not only the catalytic ability of the introduced crown-ether but also on the appending position of that in a reagent molecule. Furthermore, the derivatized products showed remarkably high fluorescence quantum yields of above 0.8 in methanol and acetonitrile. Allowing to hold a certain function such as catalyst in a reagent molecule should serve as a new strategy for the development of excellent analytical reagents.
4′,7′,10′,13′-pentaoxacyclopentadeca)-2′-ene]coumarin (2) was prepared as a new fluorescence derivatization reagent for carboxylic acids in high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis. The derivatization of lauric acid with 2 was readily accomplished under a quite mild condition to yield a highly fluorescent lauric acid derivative. The reaction was accelarated by combining crown moiety as a catalytic