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Fractionation factors for stable isotopes of N and O during N 2 O reduction in soil depend on reaction rate constant
Author(s) -
Vieten Beatrix,
Blunier Thomas,
Neftel Albrecht,
Alewell Christine,
Conen Franz
Publication year - 2007
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.2915
Subject(s) - fractionation , chemistry , reaction rate constant , isotope fractionation , isotope , nitrous oxide , kinetic isotope effect , analytical chemistry (journal) , chromatography , kinetics , organic chemistry , deuterium , physics , quantum mechanics
Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) is a major greenhouse gas that is mainly produced but also reduced by microorganisms in soils. We determined factors for N and O isotope fractionation during the reduction of N 2 O to N 2 in soil in a flow‐through incubation experiment. The absolute value of the fractionation factors decreased with increasing reaction rate constant. Reaction rates constants ranged from 1.7 10 −4 s −1 to 4.5 10 −3 s −1 . The minimum, maximum and median of the observed fractionation factors were for N −36.0‰, −1.0‰ and −9.3‰ and for O −74.0‰, −6.9‰ and −26.3‰, respectively. The ratio of O isotope fractionation to N isotope fractionation was 2.4 ± 0.3 and it was independent from the reaction rate constants. This leads us to conclude that fractionation factors are variables while their ratio in this particular reaction might be a constant. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.