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A rapid on‐line technique for determination of oxygen isotope composition of nitrogen‐containing organic matter and water
Author(s) -
Farquhar G. D.,
Henry B. K.,
Styles J. M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0231(199709)11:14<1554::aid-rcm980>3.0.co;2-i
Subject(s) - chemistry , nitrogen , oxygen , organic matter , carbon monoxide , analytical chemistry (journal) , carbon fibers , gas chromatography , stable isotope ratio , mass spectrometry , chromatography , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , catalysis , materials science , physics , quantum mechanics , composite number , composite material
A rapid, inexpensive on‐line technique for the analysis of stable isotopes of oxygen in organic matter and water is described. The oxygen in the sample is pyrolysed over nickelized carbon using a modified Unterzaucher technique and converted to carbon monoxide. Separation of the CO from N 2 by gas chromatography before mass spectrometric measurement of the 18 O/ 16 O ratio allows application of the technique to nitrogen containing samples. The precision of measurements is generally as good as, or better than, that obtained with other methods (σ = 0.2‰ for n = 10). A major advantage of the method is its speed, each sample taking less than 7 minutes to analyse. The technique improves on those used previously, in being applicable to a wide range of samples including N‐containing organic matter and water and in being rapid, simple and inexpensive while retaining precision. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.