Iodine-azide reagent for the detection of biologically oriented thiophosphoryl compounds in thin-layer chromatography systems

Abstract The correlation between induction factors ( F i ) of phosphorothioates in the iodine–azide reaction and their detection limits (DLs) using the iodine–azide reagent has been established. The iodine–azide reagent has been used for the selective thin-layer chromatographic detection of several sugar phosphorothioates and related compounds. In several cases, hydrolytic treatment of phosphorothioates, prior to their detection on thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plates with the iodine–azide reagent, was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the detectability of the starting compounds. Comparison of TLC detection systems for phosphorothioates using iodine–azide procedures and other representative procedures are presented. The application of the iodine–azide procedure combined with the molybdate procedure for selective TLC detection of phosphates and phosphorothioates is illustrated.