Future Value Time-Line Analysis

Without any doubt the most valuable development in mass spectrometry has been multi-compound/multi-isotope analysis. This implies the application of GC-C/P-IRMS to the on-line analysis, not only of carbon but also of other isotopes, preferably of hydrogen and oxygen, in the individual components of a mixture, and the use of the metabolic and isotopic correlations obtained from such an analysis. In the course of this chapter, the potential of (positional) oxygen isotope analysis has been emphasised several times and this will still be a challenge of the future. The advantage of GC-C/ P-IRMS is its speed in performance and the very moderate demand on sample size and purity, and also its implication for automation. The information available can easily be correlated to that of other (classic) analyses. However, a disadvantage will be always that the data concern a global mean value for the whole molecule in question. 

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