The determination of theanine has been performed by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) using 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) as a derivative reagent. To achieve the separation, a fused-silica capillary column was used with a borax buffer at 0.03 mol/L pH 9.8 (containing Brij35 and isopropanol) at 17 degrees C with detection wave length at 360 nm. The factors affecting the efficiency of the sample separation were examined simultaneously. A 40-min reaction at 35 degrees C between l-glutamate and ethylamine (with Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.5) was investigated using the theanine synthetase from budding tea seeds. A novel method for the analysis of theanine synthetase activity based on MECC was established. The method shows mean recovery ranged from 87.1 to 105.3% and linearity ranged from 0.2 to 5.0 mmol/L.