Automatic isotope gas analysis of tritium labelled organic materials

An analytical procedure and an automatic apparatus are described for the determination of tritium in organic compounds by gas counting. The sample is pyrolysed in hydrogen atmosphere at 1000°C, then, with hydrogen, the decomposition products are rinsed through a column of molecular sieve-5A heated to 550°C. Tritium in water, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide is transferred into the hydrogen stream by isotope exchange completed on the column. The inactive water vapor, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide as well as carbon dioxide are removed from the gas stream by appropriate absorbents, and the radioactive hydrogen together with tritiated methane, carbon monoxide and nitrogen included in the pyrolytic products is led into an internal proportional counter tube for radioactivity measurement. The method provides quantitative recovery, it is free of memory effect and suitable for the rapid assay of a wide variety of organic compounds containing C, H, N, O, S in addition to tritium.     

Hydrogen isotope exchange reaction rate in tritium and methane mixed gas

Hydrogen isotope exchange reaction rate in tritium and methane mixed gas, as induced by tritium decay and beta radiation, has been experimentally measured. Initially T₂ gas was filled to 40 kPa and 20 kPa of CH₄ gas was added. The mixed gas spectrum was analyzed periodically by laser Raman spectrometry. The first order HT and H₂ formation rates and T₂ and CH₄ decay rates by hydrogen isotope exchange reaction were observed between 2.9·10^–3 h^–1 and 4.8·10^–3 h^–1. Although the estimated hydrogen isotope exchange reaction rate was 1/20–1/10 slower than the rate of H₂+T₂ mixed gases, it was nearly equivalent to the ion formation rate by tritium beta radiation. This suggested that isotopic hydrogen radicals formed via ionization would disappear in the presence of methane.     

Radio-liquid chromatogrphy for tritium labelled organic compounds using CaF2/Eu/ scintillator

The radio-liquid chromatography for the tritium labelled compoounds was constructed with a CaF₂/Eu/ scintillator and applied successfully to analyze the products of recoil tritium reactions with trans-stilbene. The detection efficiency of tritium of 0.8% and the lowest detectable activity of 60 nCi were obtained for a 100–150 mesh CaF₂/Eu/ scintillator.     

Synthesis of tritium labelled monomers and polymers

The use of P₂O₅ for promoting the tritiation of various monomers and polymers has been investigated. Methyl methacrylate and vinyl acetate may be labelled at ambient temperatures by this procedure which is also applicable to labelling polystyrene and poly(α-methylstyrene). Exchange labelling of polymer substrates is most conveniently carried out in chlorinated hydrocarbons. The rate of tritium exchange increases with solvent polarity and temperature. Monomers of high radiochemical purity may be derived from the thermal depolymerization of tritiated polystyrene, poly(α-methylstyrene) and poly(methyl methacrylate).     

Synthesis of tritium labelled methyl vinyl ketone and its use in copolymer analysis

The synthesis of tritiated methyl vinyl ketone by base catalysed exchange and its use in determining the ketone content of styrene/methyl vinyl ketone copolymers are reported. Methods of assay are described in detail and the general applicability of the method is discussed.     

Synthesis of deuterium and tritium labelled phenyl glycine

A new method of synthesis of phenyl glycine labelled with deuterium and tritium was elaborated. Labelled phenyl glycine was obtained by isotope exchange method between phenyl glycine and deuterated or tritiated water at elevated temperature in hydrochloric acid medium using K₂PtCl₄ as a catalyst. 37 GBq /1 Ci/ HTO was used for the synthesis of tritiated phenyl glycine and labelled product with specific activity of 185 MBq/mole /5 mCi/mole/ was obtained.     

Automatic sample preparation of35S labelled organic compounds for liquid scintillation counting

An automatic sample preparation method for the determination of³⁵S in organic compounds by liquid scintillation counting is described. The sample is burned in a stream of oxygen and the combustion products are led onto a quartz wool column wetted with dilute hydrogen peroxide. Sulfur oxides are retained on the quartz wool as sulfuric acid, while the other acid producing combustion products are eliminated by evaporation. The residual sulfuric acid in rinsed with distilled water, the sulfuric acid solution obtained is added to a liquid scintillation cocktail and the radioactivity is measured with a liquid scintillation counter. The combustion-evaporation process runs automatically according to the operational program carried out by an electronic programmer.     

Improvement of tritium counting sensitivity by using completely labelled ethane as internal gas sample for the proportional counter

Further improvement of the counting sensitivity of a proportional gas counter is obtained by using ethane synthesized from acetylene and hydrogen, where thesample of tritiated water is used for acetylene production as well as for hydrogen generation. In this way all six hydrogen atoms of the filling gas molecule arise from the active sample. The advantage of this sample preparation procedure is obvious especially in the case of low-level tritium measurements.     

Movement of tritium labelled water from a point source in soils

The migration of HTO from a point source was studied in the soil of the storage of radioactive waste at horizontal distances of 10 to 40 cm from the source between 2 and 4 m depths at 5 different rainfalls, up to 7641/m². The water movement changed from 0.17 cm/l (at 10 cm) to 0.28 cm/l (at 40 cm distance) when 186 1 was irrigated, while at 764 1 rainfall it was found to be 0.11 cm/l at every distance. The estimated parameters of a three-dimensional migration model constructed to characterize HTO movement revealed that the HTO distribution migrates downwards in a small, about 1 m thick layer with an initial rate of 0.17 cm/l to slow down to about 0.05 cm/l after 50 years. The distribution is spreading horizontally with a constant rate of about 0.08 cm/l.     

Deuterium isotope effect and oxidation of labelled alcohols

Oxidation of alcoholsR-CHD-OH by CrO₃/pyridine gave the aldehydesR-CDO with a relatively small loss of D thus indicating a pronounced isotope effect.     

Substoichiometric isotope dilution analysis of calcium in biological materials

A substoichiometric isotope dilution analysis was developed for the determination of calcium in biological materials. A⁴⁷Ca tracer was produced by the photonuclear reaction and purified by a chromatographic technique on a zeolite column. The appropriate conditions and the reproducibility of the substoichiometric extraction system of TTA-TBP were examined. The present method was applied for NBS-SRM's Spinach and Pine needle, and very good results with high accuracy and precision were demonstrated.     

Follow-up of stable isotope analysis of organic versus conventional milk

Analysis of the stable isotope ratio of carbon (δ ¹³C) and α-linolenic acid (C18:3ω3) content in milk fat is a useful indicator of organic milk production. Referring to corresponding measurements, further analyses of stable isotope ratios were performed in 120 samples of conventionally and organically produced whole milk collected from German retailers during a period of 18 months. Conventional milk predominantly exhibited higher δ ¹⁵N values than organic milk, the latter of which never exceeded a maximum δ ¹⁵N threshold value of 5.50‰. Measurements of δ ³⁴S did not differ significantly between organic and conventional milk. Because δ ¹³C, in general, is related to maize consumption, δ ¹³C in milk protein and δ ¹³C in milk fat were equally suited for authentication of organic milk. Thus, a high correlation (r = 0.99) was established between δ ¹³C in milk protein and lipids. Although occurring on different levels in organic and conventional milk, the relatively constant fractionation of carbon isotopes between protein and fat will allow for the advanced detection of adulteration in processed milk products, such as fraudulent combinations of organic milk fat and conventional skim milk. In addition to the strong correlation between C18:3ω3 and δ ¹³C_protein (r = −0.91), a mutual dependence was identified between both δ ¹³C_protein and δ ¹⁵N (r = 0.66) and C18:3ω3 and δ ¹⁵N (r = −0.61). Thus, multi-variable analyses are useful to increase robustness and reduce the number of exceptions in organic milk authentication. Future work involving multivariate statistical analysis can possibly further improve milk authentication in various respects including differentiating between brands of retail milk.     

Reference materials in environmental trace organic analysis

 The paper reviews the application of reference materials (RMs) in environmental analysis of trace organic pollutants. The problems related to RM preparation, stability, use, etc. are critically discussed. Importance of analytical quality assurance and the role RMs play in the process are emphasised. Received: 18 May 1999 · Accepted: 27 December 1999     

Kinetics of tritium isotope exchange between liquid pyrrole and gaseous hydrogen

The kinetics of tritium isotope exchange between liquid pyrrole and gaseous hydrogen has been studied over the temperature range of 290–303 K. The reaction was carried out in the presence of platinum black but in spite of that, it appeared to be relatively slow. The kinetics of the exchange reaction studied could be described by the simple McKay equation. The results obtained suggest that diffusion is the rate-determining step. A mechanism of exchange is proposed.     

Current challenges in compound-specific stable isotope analysis of environmental organic contaminants

Compound-specific stable-isotope analysis (CSIA) has greatly facilitated assessment of sources and transformation processes of organic pollutants. Multielement isotope analysis is one of the most promising applications of CSIA because it even enables distinction of different transformation pathways. This review introduces the essential features of continuous-flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and highlights current challenges in environmental analysis as exemplified for the isotopes of nitrogen, hydrogen, chlorine, and oxygen. Strategies and recent advances to enable isotopic measurements of polar contaminants, for example pesticides or pharmaceuticals, are discussed with special emphasis on possible solutions for analysis of low concentrations of contaminants in environmental matrices. Finally, we discuss different levels of calibration and referencing and point out the urgent need for compound-specific isotope standards for gas chromatography-isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) of organic pollutants.