Pre-and postco umn derivatization methods employing recently-developed Bifunctional fluorogenic reagents for high performance liquid chromatography have been demonstrated to be successful regarding both sensitivity and selectivity in the determination of bioactive substances and their related enzymes. The reagents were designed mostly based on the principle that vicinal or geminal, homo-or hetero-Bifunctional (diamino, amino-imino, aminosulfhydryl or amino-hydroxyl) compounds react with 1,2-dioxo compounds (1,2-ketols, glyoxals, 1,2-diketones or 1,2-quinones) or monooxo compounds (aldehydes) to yield fluorescent cyclic products. These reagents have been introduced into the quantification process of diverse bioactive substances in biological samples at the femtomole level.