Hydrogen isotope determination for small-size water samples using an equilibration technique

✍ Scribed by Thielecke, Frank; Brand, Willi; Noack, Rudolf

• Book ID: 101222632
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 213 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1076-5174
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-9888(199804)33:4<342::aid-jms640>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

The hydrogen/deuterium/oxygen (H/D/O) equilibration technique for measuring isotope ratios has proved to be of great interest for a number of applications in addition to the doubly labelled water (DLW) method, which measures energy expenditure in free living subjects. However, the limiting factor of the sample volume represents a common problem in many of these methodologies. By utilizing a fully automated sample preparation device, water samples with di †erent volumes were analysed with respect to the 2H/1H isotope ratios. The sample volume ranged from 4-0.25 ml. It was demonstrated that high precision was obtainable over the entire range. Although fractionation did seem to occur, it remained insigniÐcant. Therefore, subsequent mass correction is possible and isotope ratios can be reliably obtained from water samples as small as 0.25 ml. This implies that the fully automated H/D/O equilibration technique is a valuable and useful tool for an extended range of research areas, in particular where the sample volume is limited.