Naturally occurring isotopes, relative abundance

RELATIVE ABUNDANCES OF NATURALLY OCCURRING ISOTOPES Table 4.18 Relative Abundances of Naturally Occurring Isotopes... 

Accurate atomic weight values do not automatically follow from precise measurements of relative atomic masses, however, since the relative abundance of the various isotopes must also be determined. That this can be a limiting factor is readily seen from Table 1.3 the value for praseodymium (which has only 1 stable naturally occurring isotope) has two more significant figures than the value for the neighbouring element cerium which has 4 such isotopes. In the twelve years since the first edition of this book was published the atomic weight values of no fewer than 55 elements have been improved, sometimes spectacularly, e.g. Ni from 58.69( 1) to 58.6934(2). 

All of the heteroatoms possess at least one naturally occurring isotope with a magnetic moment (Table 15). The nuclei 14N, 170 and 33S also possess an electric quadrupole moment which interacts with the electric field gradient at the nucleus, providing a very efficient mechanism for relaxing the nuclear spin. The consequence of this facilitation of relaxation is a broadening of the NMR signals so that line widths may be 50-1000 Hz or even wider. To some extent this problem is offset by the more extensive chemical shifts that are observed. The low natural abundances and/or sensitivities have necessitated the use of accumulation techniques for all of these heteroatoms. The relative availability of 170 and 15N enriched... 

There are three naturally occurring isotopes, 39K through 41K, of which 40K is radioactive with a half-life of 1.3 109 years. Tn ordinary potassium, this isotope represents only 0.0119% of the content. There are four other known isotopes, all radioactive. 33 K and 42K through 44K, all with relatively short half-lives measured in minutes and hours. In terms of abundance, potassium ranks seventh among the elements occurring in the earth s crust. In terms of content in seawater, the element ranks eighth, with an estimated 1,800,000 tons of potassium per cubic mile (388,000 metric tons per cubic kilometer) of seawater, First ionization potential 4,339 eV ... 

The relative abundance of gold is 0.004 part per million (ppm) in Earth s crust. Deposits of the metal are found in South Africa, Siberia, North America, and South America. Gold has one naturally occurring isotope (197Au) and forty-five synthetic isotopes. 

Boron exists as two naturally occurring isotopes 1°B (10.01 u) and 1 lB (11.01 u). Calculate the relative abundance of each isotope of boron. 

Silicon only has one naturally occurring isotope ( Si) with a nonzero nuclear spin and Si NMR spectroscopy has become one of the most widely used techniques for the identification of silicon compounds. Unfortunately, the natural abundance of Si is only 4.7%, which combined with its long spin-lattice relaxation times, means that relatively long acquisition times may be needed to obtain high quality spectra. Si NMR spectroscopy has been the subject of a number of reviews and tables of chemical shift data and coupling constants are available. " ... 

The 1981 report on atomic weights includes a complete review of the natural isotopic composition of the elements and also tabulates the relative atomic masses for selected radioisotopes. This information is required for the conversion of spectroscopic data from that corresponding to specific isotopes to the naturally occurring isotopic abundance. 

Tin has ten naturally occurring isotopes, more than any other element. The relative abundances are given in Table 2-5. In the mass spectrum, these isotopes give rise to the characteristic pattern of peaks which is illustrated in the Table. 

Atomic number 50. Relative atomic mass 118.710. The abundance of the ten naturally occurring isotopes is given in Table 2-5, and the properties of the spin-active isotopes are given in Table 2-6. 

Mass spectrometers determine atomic and molecular isotope ratios. Table 2 lists the relative isotopic abundance of elements commonly encountered in pharmaceutical analysis [3,4]. The values in Table 2 have been empirically determined and refinements in the values are necessary as atomic mass measurements improve, but for this discussion any inaccuracies in the table are insignificant. For some elements there are only two naturally occurring isotopes. For example, if you were to randomly sample carbon atoms in nature, 99% of the time you would find 12C, and roughly 1% of the time a 13C would turn up. Other elements, such as chlorine and bromine, have elemental isotope ratios that are not as heavily... 

Along with the isotopic mass, the mass spectrometer gives the relative abundance (fraction) of each isotope in a sample of the element. For example, the percent abundance of Si is 92.23%. Such data allow us to calculate the atomic mass (also called atomic weight) of an element, the average of the masses of its naturally occurring isotopes weighted according to their abundances. 

---