Hydrogen/deuterium isotope ratio measurement

Researchers can measure the deuterium/hydrogen ratios as a one step process and can investigate complex mixtures with the Hydra-GC from PDZ Europa.

The Hydra-GC couples the power of online high temperature pyrolysis with a complete continuous flow stable isotope mass spectrometer (IRMS). A sample is injected on to a GC column to separate it into individual compounds. Components eluting from the GC flow in to a reaction zone where the organic hydrogen is pyrolised to hydrogen gas. The resulting peaks of hydrogen are focussed by a subsequent molecular sieve GC column and then enter the ion source of the 20-20 stable isotope analyser. The extended ion optics of the 20-20 detect the signals of the m/z 2 (H2) and m/z 3 (HD) to produce a precise measurement of the D/H ratio.

The high dispersion and short path length of the 20-20 gives complete separation of deuterium from the helium carrier gas and measures other isotopes 15N, 13C and 18O as standard.

This configuration analyses both individual chemicals and mixtures of organic compounds and has only nanomolar amounts of sample on column.

High sample throughput rates are possible because of the short cycle times involved and the provision of a GC autosampler.