Simultaneous Determination of the 2H/1H, 17O/16O, and 18O/16O Isotope Abundance Ratios in Water by Means of Laser Spectrometry

• Published in: Analytical Chemistry
• Main Authors: Kerstel, E.R.Th., Trigt, R. van, Dam, N.J., Reuss, J., Meijer, H.A.J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: ATMOSPHERIC CARBON-DIOXIDE; ICE CORE; ABSORPTION SPECTROMETER; MASS-SPECTROMETRY; DEUTERIUM EXCESS; METHANE; TEMPERATURE; PROFILES; SNOW; Antarctic; Antarc*; ice core
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/7d521457-d577-4369-9d3e-b014903523de; https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/7d521457-d577-4369-9d3e-b014903523de; https://doi.org/10.1021/ac990621e; https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/3166273/1999AnalChemKerstel.pdf

We demonstrate the first successful application of infrared laser spectrometry to the accurate, simultaneous determination of the relative H-2/H-1, O-17/O-16, and O-18/O-16 isotope abundance ratios in water. The method uses a narrow Line width color center laser to record the direct absorption spectrum of low-pressure gas-phase water samples (presently 10 mu L of liquid) in the 3-mu m spectral region. It thus avoids the laborious chemical preparations of the sample that are required in the case of the conventional isotope ratio mass spectrometer measurement. The precision of the spectroscopic technique is shown to be 0.7 parts per thousand for delta(2)H and 0.5 parts per thousand for delta(17)O and delta(18)O (delta represents the relative deviation of a sample's isotope abundance ratio with respect to that of a calibration material), while the calibrated accuracy amounts to about 3 and 1 parts per thousand, respectively, for water with an isotopic composition in the range of the Standard Light Antarctic Precipitation and Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water international standards.