A method for analysis of vanillic acid in polar ice cores

• Main Authors: Grieman, MM, Greaves, J, Saltzman, ES
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2015
• Subjects: Climate Action; Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience; Paleontology; Arctic; ice core
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7f49n5x5

Biomass burning generates a wide range of organic compounds that are transported via aerosols to the polar ice sheets. Vanillic acid is a product of conifer lignin combustion, which has previously been observed in laboratory and ambient biomass burning aerosols. In this study a method was developed for analysis of vanillic acid in melted polar ice core samples. Vanillic acid was chromatographically separated using reversed-phase liquid chromatography (HPLC) and detected using electrospray ionization-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). Using a 100 I1/4L injection loop and analysis time of 4 min, we obtained a detection limit of 77 ppt (parts per trillion by mass) and an analytical precision of ±10%. Measurements of vanillic acid in Arctic ice core samples from the Siberian Akademii Nauk core are shown as an example application of the method.