Compound specific analysers

Hayes, J.M., Freeman, K.H., Popp, B.N., Hoham, C.H., 1990. Compound-specific analyses, a novel tool for reconstruction of ancient biogeochemical processes. Organic Geochemistry 16 1115-1128. 

Previous sections have illustrated the complexity of most of the compound-specific analyses developed in the environmental field. It is easy then to figure out that the accurate determination of a possible enantiomeric enrichment of chiral pollutants is even more difficult owing to the many co-elution problems and low concentration levels of the analytes. This difficulty could explain the somehow limited research conducted on this topic. However, its interest is clear. Industrial contaminants, such as PCBs or toxafene, are released into the environment as racemates. Therefore, a nonracemic composition of these pollutants might be evidence of selective biotransformation and/or bioaccumulation. Some studies have also pointed to different biological and toxic behaviour for each of the enantiomers [56], something that can be especially relevant for pesticides exhibiting chiral properties. 

The aims of this contribution are to (i) consider the theoretical principles underlying the use of compound-specific stable isotope analysis in archaeology (ii) consider the practical aspects of undertaking compound-specific stable isotope analyses and (iii) demonstrate the value of linking the structures of amino acids, fatty acids and/or sterols, to their compound-specific stable isotope values to achieve new insights into variations in metabolism and environment in order to enhance archaeological interpretations. 

Compound-specific stable isotope analyses are more complex to undertake than bulk stable isotope analyses and require careful consideration to be given to sample... 

The bulk hydrogen isotopic composition of amino acids has been shown to depend on animal trophic level (Birchall et al. 2005). Furthermore, compound-specific hydrogen isotopic analyses of amino acids may help elucidate the mechanism behind this enrichment, by determining the differences in 8D value between essential and non-essential amino acids, and may also provide a further palaeodietary indicator (e.g. Corr et al. 2005). However, amino acids are highly functional, with both amino and carboxyl extremely... 

Although carbon isotopic measurements of bulk organic material can be very informative, much more information can be obtained from the isotopic characterization of specific compound classes or individual organic compounds isolated from bulk material. Such compound-specific isotope analyses (CSIA) can target individual molecules known to be associated primarily with specific processes (e.g., photosynthesis) or with specific sources. 

Renwick (1991, 1993) analyzed interindividual differences of healthy volunteers by comparing the maximum and mean values of pharmacokinetic parameters (7 substances) and pharmacodynamic parameters (6 substances). The data indicated that toxicokinetic differences were slightly greater than toxicodynamic differences. With one exception, the ratios between the maximum and mean value for a substance s kinetic parameter ranged from 1.8 to 4.2 with most values between 3 and 4, and it was concluded that a factor of 3-4 would be sufficient to consider toxicokinetic differences for 99% of the healthy, adult population and for 80% of the substances. The ratios between the maximum and mean value for a substance s dynamic parameter ranged from 1.5 to 6.9 with most values between 1.7 and 2.7. Based on the analyses, Renwick proposed to subdivide the interindividual factor of 10 into a factor of 4 for pharmacokinetic differences and a factor of 2.5 for pharmacodynamic differences. The aim of the subdivision of the 10-fold factor was to allow the incorporation of suitable compound-specific data for one particular aspect of uncertainty. 

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