Chlorine isotope fractionation of a semi-volatile organochlorine compound during preparative megabore-column capillary gas chromatography.
Chlorine isotope fractionation during preparative capillary gas chromatography (pcGC) was investigated using 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) as a model compound for semi-volatile organochlorine (OCl) molecules. Chlorine isotope analysis by thermal ionization mass spectrometry revealed no significant alteration of the chlorine isotope composition when the whole peaks were collected in pcGC (delta37Cl -3.2 per thousand versus -3.6 per thousand for the unprocessed DDT, +/-0.5 per thousand SD). However, distinct isotope fractionations were measured for the front (delta37Cl -5.1 per thousand) and tail (delta37Cl -1.8 per thousand) segments of partially collected samples. Isolation of individual OCls by pcGC enables accurate off-line chlorine isotope analysis, and thus facilitates the investigation of naturally occurring OCls.
Holmstrand
Henry
H
Laboratory for Isotope Geology (LIG), Swedish Museum of Natural History, 10405 Stockholm, Sweden.
Mandalakis
Manolis
M
Zencak
Zdenek
Z
Gustafsson
Orjan
O
Andersson
Per
P
D002713:Chlorine / Q000737:chemistry*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D003634:DDT / Q000737:chemistry*; D007554:Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014835:Volatilization
D007554:Isotopes; D002713:Chlorine; D003634:DDT