Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:00:39.167Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A New UV Oxidation Setup for Small Radiocarbon Samples in Solution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Peter Steier ,
Christina Fasching ,
Klaus Mair ,
Jakob Liebl ,
Tom Battin ,
Alfred Priller  and
Robin Golser
Peter Steier*
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VERA Laboratory, Währinger Straße 17, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Christina Fasching
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Limnology, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Klaus Mair
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VERA Laboratory, Währinger Straße 17, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Jakob Liebl
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VERA Laboratory, Währinger Straße 17, 1090 Vienna, Austria EBG MedAustron GmbH, Marie Curie-Straße 5, 2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Tom Battin
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Limnology, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Alfred Priller
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VERA Laboratory, Währinger Straße 17, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Robin Golser
Affiliation:
University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, VERA Laboratory, Währinger Straße 17, 1090 Vienna, Austria
*
2Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The requirements of extracting minute amounts of organic carbon in solution with high yield and minimum background are a prerequisite for radiocarbon dating of microgram amounts of carbon. Samples for biomedical or environmental research often arrive at the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) lab as concentrates dissolved in 1 mL of water or less. We have developed a new extraction method based on photo-oxidation by ultraviolet (UV) light. The solution is transferred into UV-transparent quartz vials with a head volume of pure oxygen and UV from low-pressure mercury discharge lamps is applied. To exclude the introduction of carbon background, we avoid any additional oxidizing agents. Under these conditions, only the 185 nm line is considered effective. To characterize the yield and the background, we have investigated artificial samples prepared from different materials. The setup developed allows parallel oxidation of 9 samples within typically 2 hr, connected directly to our graphitization setup for extremely small samples. The method was applied successfully for a study on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in ice from 26 Austrian glaciers. A special advantage of the UV oxidation method in this case was that phosphoric acid could be used to remove carbonates, while its low vapor pressure prevented complete lyophilization. We see the most promising field of application in biomed research and compound-specific analysis.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 55 , Issue 2: Proceedings of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2) , 2013 , pp. 373 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beaupré, SR, Druffel, ERM, Griffin, S. 2007. A low-blank photochemical extraction system for concentration and isotopic analyses of marine dissolved organic carbon. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 5:174–84.Google Scholar
Bergmann, O, Liebl, J, Bernard, S, Alkass, K, Yeung, MSY, Steier, P, Kutschera, W, Johnson, L, Landén, M, Druid, H, Spalding, KL, Frisén, J. 2012. The age of olfactory bulb neurons in humans. Neuron 74:634–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, KJ, Williams, PJLB. 1977. An automated photochemical method for the determination of dissolved organic carbon in sea and estuarine waters. Marine Chemistry 5:123–41.Google Scholar
Golimowski, J, Golimowska, K. 1996. UV-photooxidation as pretreatment step in inorganic analysis of environmental samples. Analytica Chimica Acta 325:111–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, S, Beaupré, SR, Druffel, ERM. 2010. An alternate method of diluting dissolved organic carbon seawater samples for 14C analysis. Radiocarbon 52(3):1224–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liebl, J, Avalos Ortiz, R, Golser, R, Handle, F, Kutschera, W, Steier, P, Wild, EM. 2010. Studies on the preparation of small 14C samples with an RGA and 13C-enriched material. Radiocarbon 52(3):1394–404.Google Scholar
May, B, Wagenbach, D, Hoffmann, H, Legrand, M, Preunkert, S, Steier, P. 2013. Constraints on the major sources of dissolved organic carbon in Alpine ice cores from radiocarbon analysis over the bomb-peak period. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 118(8):3319–27.Google Scholar
Preunkert, S, Legrand, M, Stricker, P, Bulat, S, Alekhina, I, Petit, JR, Hoffmann, H, May, B, Jourdain, B. 2011. Quantification of dissolved organic carbon at very low levels in natural ice samples by a UV-induced oxidation method. Environmental Science & Technology 45(2):673–8.Google Scholar
Singer, GA, Fasching, C, Wilhelm, L, Niggemann, J, Steier, P, Dittmar, T, Battin, TJ. 2012. Biogeochemically diverse organic matter in Alpine glaciers and its downstream fate. Nature Geoscience 5:710–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tue-Ngeun, O, Sandford, RC, Jakmunee, J, Grudpan, K, McKelvie, ID, Worsfold, PJ. 2005. Determination of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in freshwaters by sequential injection spectrophotometry with on-line UV photo-oxidation. Analytica Chimica Acta 554:17–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vig, JR. 1985. UV/ozone cleaning of surfaces. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A 3:1027–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vig, JR. 1993. Ultraviolet-ozone cleaning of semiconductor surfaces. In: Kern, W, editor. Handbook of Semiconductor Wafer Cleaning Technology. Park Ridge: Noyes Publications, p 6–273.Google Scholar
Vogel, JS, Southon, JR, Nelson, DE, Brown, TA. 1984. Performance of catalytically condensed carbon for use in accelerator mass spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 5(2):289–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, PM, Druffel, ERM. 1987. Radiocarbon in dissolved organic carbon in the central North Pacific Ocean. Nature 330(6145):246–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, PM, Oeschger, H, Kinney, P. 1969. Natural radiocarbon activity of dissolved organic carbon in North-east Pacific Ocean. Nature 224(5216):256–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar