Dual-inlet isotope ratio mass spectrometry

Dual-inlet isotope ratio mass spectrometry (DI-IRMS) ... 

The purpose of this paper was to briefly describe fundamentals of isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), review the analytical systems currently available both for traditional dual-inlet (DI-IRMS) and the newer continuous-flow (CF-IRMS) and describe the specialized instruments that are in general use for isotopic measurements. 

For example, little is known about the isotopic composition of formaldehyde in the atmosphere. Formaldehyde is a chemical intermediate in hydrocarbon oxidation. The carbon (8 C) and hydrogen (8D) isotopic composition of atmospheric formaldehyde is analyzed using continuous flow gas chromatography isotope ratio mass spectrometry." Isotope ratios were measured using GC-IRMS (Finnigan MAT 253 stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer, single-sector field with electron impact ion source and multiple ion collection) with a precision of 1.1 and 50%(lo ) for 8 C and 8D, respectively. The accuracy of the online continuous flow isotope technique was verified by calibrating three aliquots of the gas phase standard via the offline dual inlet IRMS technique. The concentration of formaldehyde in ambient air was determined on IRMS major ion peak areas (i.e., mass 44 for 8 C and mass 2 for 8D)." ... 

Fig. 6.12 Sample pretreatment and conversion of organic compounds into gases for isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). The reductive pyrolysis is normally performed on glassy carbon (for a summary see e.g. [ 1291). In case of coupled HPLC-IRMS for determination wet oxidation is used [ 122f In the routine isotope ratio analysis of water often isotope equilibration with gases are used for 0-analysis CO2 [ 130], for S H-analysis H2 gas in the presence of Pt [131]. Recently an on-line method for S O and in water has been described showing dual-inlet like performance [ 132]. Low-temperature pyrolysis in connection with GC is used for compound fragmentation with the aim of partial isotope pattern analysis [133]. TC-EA = thermo conversion elemental analyser...

FIGURE 15.6 Principal sections of a dual inlet instrument (based on a ThermoHnnigan dual inlet instrument [28]). Reprinted from Benson, S., Lennard, C, Maynard, F, Roux, C. (2006) Forensic applications of isotope ratio mass spectrometry—a review. Forensic Sci. Int., 157(1), 1-22, with permission from Elsevier [Ij. 

The use of carbon isotopes to study DOC is becoming more prevalent due to technological advances in mass spectrometry. DOC generally occurs in natural waters in low concentrations, typically ranging between 0.5 ppm and 10 ppm carbon (Thurman, 1985 see Chapter 5.10). Thus, several liters to tens of liters of water were once necessary to extract enough DOC for conventional dual gas-inlet isotopic analysis. Today, automated total organic carbon analyzers (TOCs) are commercially available, and have been successfully interfaced with continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometers (CF-IRMS) for stable isotopic measurements of samples containing ppb concentrations of DOC (e.g., St-Jean, 2003). 

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