High-pressure liquid-solid chromatography of the ecdysones--insect molting hormones.

A rapid, high-pressure liquid-solid chromatographic technique was developed for the separation, detection and analysis of ecdysteroids. The advantages in using this system for the identification of ecdysteroids in combination with NMR and mass spectrometry and its potential application in analyzing material from biological and synthetic,systems are presented. INTRODUCTION Although the molting hormones (ecdysones) are present in small quantities in insects, riderable body of knowledge concerning their structure, metabolism, and I. 'abolic precursors has been accumulated (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The micrk ~termination of these hormones has been carried out primarily throug_+ the use of a variety of biological assays (4). However, studies concerned with determinations such as the mode of action, specific metabolism, and excretion require that these hormones and their metabolites be isolated, separated, end identified, Such identifications have been accomplished by a combination of column ~hrorna~o~aphy~ thin-layer chromato~ap~ * NRC-ARS Postdoctoral Associate. Volume 23, Number 4 STEROIDS ApriZ, 2974