title: Micropowder collecting technique for stable isotope analysis of carbonates.
abstract: Micromilling is a conventional technique used in the analysis of the isotopic composition of geological materials, which improves the spatial resolution of sample collection for analysis. However, a problem still remains concerning the recovery ratio of the milled sample. We constructed a simple apparatus consisting of a vacuum pump, a sintered metal filter, electrically conductive rubber stopper and a stainless steel tube for transferring the milled powder into a reaction vial. In our preliminary experiments on carbonate powder, we achieved a rapid recovery of 5 to 100 µg of carbonate with a high recovery ratio (>90%). This technique shortens the sample preparation time, improves the recovery ratio, and homogenizes the sample quantity, which, in turn, improves the analytical reproducibility.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biogeosciences, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan. saburos@jamstec.go.jp
authors.forename: Saburo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kodan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000737:chemistry; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D002254:Carbonates / Q000737:chemistry*; D004867:Equipment Design; D007554:Isotopes; D016014:Linear Models; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D055616:Microtechnology / Q000379:methods*; D011208:Powders / Q000737:chemistry*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013048:Specimen Handling
chemical_list: D002254:Carbonates; D007554:Isotopes; D011208:Powders; D002245:Carbon Dioxide