Isotope ratio measurements application fields

Instrumental developments (e.g., of sector field instruments with multiple ion collection, introduced in 1992, or the insertion of collision and reaction cells in order to reduce disturbing isobaric interferences), the progress in applications for ultratrace analysis, also in combination with on line hyphenated separation techniques (HPLC, CE), especially routine capability as well as decreasing price and user friendly maintenance mean that sales are increasing by 10 % every year. To improve the analytical performance of ICP mass spectrometers for precise isotope ratio measurements (e.g., for geochronology or for the study of fine isotope variation in nature) powerful instrumentation with high mass dispersion and multiple ion collector systems instead of single ion collection are commercially available on the analytical market. 

A sensitive high resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP, with a maximum mass resolution of m/Am of 30 000) was designed on the basis of the double-focusing sector field Matsuda type instrument190 as discussed by Compston in 1996.191 The first SHRIMP and a modified version for precise isotope ratio measurements were constructed in the 1980s and later produced commercially.192 The main application of this instrument so far has been in situ U-Pb dating of zircon.192,193... 

Precise and accurate isotope analyses by mass spectrometry have attained growing importance in the last few years due to instrumental improvements with respect to sensitivity, detection limits, precision and accuracy.1 As mentioned before, because the isotope abundances of several elements are not constant and vary as a result of nuclear, biological, chemical, geochemical and physical processes, isotope ratio measurements are required for different research and application fields. Isotope ratio measurements are therefore necessary for elements with two or more isotopes for inves-... 

Figure 8.1 Fields of application for isotope ratio measurements. (Modified from J. S. Becker, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 17, H72 (2002). Reproduced by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry.)...

Numerous applications of quadrupole ICP-MS (without a collision cell) for isotope ratio measurements can be found in quite different fields. For example, magnesium isotope ratios on... 

At present, advanced mass spectrometric techniques have been successfully established among a multitude of quite different analytical methods as very powerful tools which are increasingly being employed for high tech research topics and for daily routine analyses in many laboratories worldwide. Numerous different applications in various fields of use, as demonstrated in the several chapters of this book, illustrate the excellent current capability of inorganic mass spectrometry in the multi-element determination of elements in a wide dynamic range (from % range for determination of stoichiometries, e.g., in layered materials, down to the extreme ultratrace level, e.g., in environmental research, speciation analysis and isotope ratio measurements). 

Wildner, H. (1998). Application of inductively coupled plasma sector field mass spectrometry for the fast and sensitive determination and isotope ratio measurement of non-metak in high-purity process chemicals./. Anal. Ar. Spectrom. 13(6), 573. 

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