Column partition chromatography of estrone, estradiol-17 beta, and estriol in phenolic extracts of urine: fluorescence characteristics of interfering material.

The fluorescence spectra of the material obtained when estrone, estradiol-178, and estriol are heated with sulfuric acid have already been described (l-3), together with their relative fluorescence intensities in response to esciting light of different wave lengths (2). However, in order to design the most favorable optical conditions for the fluorometry of these estrogens in urinary extracts after chromatographic separation, and since separation from interfering material is unlikely always to be complete, it is clearly important to take into account the fluorescence characteristics of the interfering material running adjacent to each estrogen in the chromatographic system used. Fluorescence characteristics of this interfering material in the case of column partition chromatography of the three estrogens in phenolic urinary extracts (4) are here described.