Certain amino acid derivatives (epsilon-basic, anilide group) can be readily adsorbed onto various types of talc (steopac, SS20, C300, C400). For instance, talc is capable of adsorbing the amino acid esters but not the equivalent free amino acids. The types of talc which have high hydrophobicity (00, 15M00) were poor adsorbents. Two applications of these findings are presented : enhancement of the sensitivity of enzymatic tests in the presence of chromogenic substrates and enantioselective separation of epsilon-basic amino acids (arginine, lysine, ornithine).