The preparation of steroid N-hydroxysuccinimide esters and their reactivities with bovine serum albumin.

Abstract

The N-hydroxysuccinimide esters of testosterone and cortisol were prepared from the corresponding carboxylic acid derivatives by a carbodiimide method. The activated esters were covalently linked to bovine serum albumin in organic solvent/phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) employing various molar ratios of the steroid to protein. Apparently the activated ester method would be useful for enzyme labeling in enzyme immunoassay of steroids in respect to simplicity and reproducibility.