title: Determination of inorganic chlorine stable isotopes by continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry.
abstract: Chlorine stable isotope analyses of inorganic samples were conducted using continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS) coupled with gas chromatography (GC). Inorganic chloride was precipitated in the form of silver chloride (AgCl) by using silver nitrate in a standard methodology. Chlorine stable isotope analysis was carried out on methyl chloride (CH3Cl) after converting AgCl into CH3Cl by reacting it with methyl iodide (CH3I). The reaction between AgCl and CH3I took place in 20 mL size vials. Addition of CH3I was performed in a glove bag under helium flow. An Agilent 6890 gas chromatograph equipped with a CTC Analytics CombiPAL autosampler and a DB-5MS 60 m column was used to separate CH3Cl from CH3I. This new technique uses samples as small as 0.2 mg of AgCl (1.4 micromol of Cl-). The chlorine stable isotope analysis using continuous flow technology showed excellent precision and accuracy. The internal precision using pure CH3Cl gas is better than +/-0.04 per thousand (+/-STDV). The external precision using seawater standard is better than +/-0.07 per thousand (+/-STDV) for n=12. Moreover, the sample analysis time is much shorter and many more samples can be analyzed in one day than by using the conventional off-line techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. W., Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1. orfan@uwaterloo.ca
authors.forename: Orfan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shouakar-Stash
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Drimmie
authors.forename: Shaun K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Frape
mesh_terms: D002713:Chlorine / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D007287:Inorganic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis*; D007553:Isotope Labeling; D007554:Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D007287:Inorganic Chemicals; D007554:Isotopes; D002713:Chlorine