Study of kinetics,equilibrium and isotope exchange in ion exchanger systems

An automatic, rapid combustion method has been developed for the determination of tritium and¹⁴C in singly or doubly labelled organic materials by liquid scintillation counting. The sample is burned in a stream of oxygen. The water formed and its tritium content are retained from the gas stream in an absorber containing a small amount of diethyleneglycol monoethyl ether. Radioactive carbon dioxide, if included in the combustion products, is transferred into 3-methoxypropylamine. The final solutions ready for counting are obtained in less than three minutes. Quantitative collection recoveries for both tritium and¹⁴C are achieved and no cross-contamination occurs.