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Fast high‐precision on‐line determination of hydrogen isotope ratios of water or ice by continuous‐flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Huber C.,
Leuenberger M.
Publication year - 2003
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/rcm.1055
Subject(s) - chemistry , continuous flow , vaporization , analytical chemistry (journal) , isotope , mass spectrometry , isotope ratio mass spectrometry , aqueous solution , hydrogen , accuracy and precision , platinum , stable isotope ratio , chromatography , catalysis , mechanics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , biochemistry , physics , statistics , mathematics
A new fast high‐precision on‐line technique is described for the determination of hydrogen isotope ratios of water by continuous‐flow mass spectrometry. For the first time H 2 /H 2 O‐equilibration using a platinum catalyst has been used in a fully continuous process. A significant reduction in the H 2 /H 2 O‐equilibration time is achieved by a complete vaporization of the water and by increasing the exchange temperature to 100°C. The analysis time is only ∼5 min/sample which includes equilibration and processing. Measurement precision and accuracy are better than 1‰ and sample consumption is only ∼5 μL. This new technique allows the measurement of a wide range of aqueous samples either in a semi‐continuous way (discrete samples are injected one after another) or in a fully continuous way. This allows us, for the first time, to make continuous measurements of ice cores. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.