Development of a compound-specific isotope analysis method for acetone via 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine derivatization

A novel method has been developed for compound-specific isotope analysis for acetone via DNPH (2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine) derivatization together with combined gas chromatography/combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS). Acetone reagents were used to assess delta13C fractionation during the DNPH derivatization process. Reduplicate delta13C analyses were designed to evaluate the reproducibility of the derivatization, with an average error (1 standard deviation) of 0.17 +/- 0.05 per thousand, and average analytical error of 0.28 +/- 0.09 per thousand. The derivatization process introduces no isotopic fractionation for acetone (the average difference between the predicted and analytical delta13C values was 0.09 +/- 0.20 per thousand, within the precision limits of the GC/C/IRMS measurements), which permits computation of the delta13C values for the original underivatized acetone through a mass balance equation. Together with further studies of the carbon isotopic effect during the atmospheric acetone-sampling procedure, it will be possible to use DNPH derivatization for carbon isotope analysis of atmospheric acetone.