An online method to determine chlorine stable isotope composition by continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS) coupled with a Gasbench Ⅱ

An online method using continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry （CF-IRMS） interfaced with a Gasbench Ⅱ was presented to determine chlorine stable isotope composition. Silver chloride （AgCl） was quantitatively derived from chloride by using silver nitrate （AgNO3）, and then was reacted with iodomethane （CH3Ⅰ） to produce methyl chloride （CH3Cl）. A GasBench Ⅱ equipped with a PoraPlot Q column was used to separate CH3Cl from any other gas species. Finally, chlorine stable isotope analysis was carried out on CH3Cl introduced to the IRMS in a helium stream via an active open split. The minimum amount of Cl used in this method is of the order of 1.4 μmol. Inter-laboratory and inter-technique comparisons show that the total uncertainty incorporating both the precision and accuracy of this method is better than 0.007%. Furthermore, ten seawaters sampled from different locations have a narrow δ37Cl value range from -0.008% to 0.010%, with a mean value of （0.000±0.006）%. This supports the assumption that any seawater can be representative of standard mean ocean chloride （SMOC） and used as an international reference material.

Investigation of Geographical Origin and Production Method of L（＋）-Tartaric Acid by Isotopic Analyses with Chemometrics

The determination of the geographical origin as well as the adulteration of natural products is a technical problem due to similar chemical composition between an adulterant and the original. It is assumed that tartaric acid comes from natural sources, however there is no specific regulation for this claim. This paper describes the use of isotope mass spectrometry associated with chemometrics to classify different samples of tartaric acid. The results showed that the variables δ^13C, δ^18O and δ^2H allowed the discrimination of tartaric acid samples by geographical origin and production method. By using a combination of chemometfic analysis it was possible to confirm a notoriousseparation of the samples. Thus, this is a promising method to be applied in the quality control and authenticity of tartaric acid.

Candidate reference measurement procedure for serum 17-hydroxyprogesterone quantification via isotope dilution liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

Background:Accurate quantification of 17-hydroxyprogesterone(17-OHP)in serum is vital for clinical and research applications.However,inter-laboratory variability in test results exists owing to the lack of a standardized reference measurement procedure(RMP).Therefore,in this study,we developed a highly accurate,cost-effective,and user-friendly candidate RMP(cRMP)for analyzing 17-OHP in serum.Methods:We quantified 17-OHP in serum using a one-step liquid–liquid extraction method with the addition of 17-OHP-^(13)C_(3),followed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry.The ability of these methods to suppress interference was evaluated by chromatographic analysis.We assessed accuracy,specificity,the lower limit of quantitation,linearity,and matrix effects by following the standards specified by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute.The consistency between the developed cRMP and the chemiluminescence method was evaluated through experiments with 120 clinical samples.Results:The developed cRMP required only 8 min for accurate quantification of serum 17-OHP without bias from matrix effects or interference from 19 metabolites added as potential interferents.The method exhibited favorable measurement performance,with a quantitation limit of 0.086 ng/mL,linear range of 0.1–400 ng/mL,a total imprecision of≤2.90%,spike recovery of 100.1%–100.6%,and relative deviations from assigned target values(RfB Institution)of−2.91%to 1.10%.The cRMP demonstrated good consistency with the conventional assay(chemiluminescence method),with a correlation coefficient R of 0.96977.Conclusion:A cRMP with high accuracy,cost-effectiveness,and convenient operation was developed for quantifying 17-OHP in serum.Its simplicity and robust performance make it an invaluable addition to the arsenal of analytical tools available for laboratories.This method can enhance the accuracy and reliability of 17-OHP measurements across various laboratories.

国际比对CCQM-P77a血清中氢化可的松测定

The concept of metrological traceability in laboratory medicine has increasingly received considerable recognition worldwide.The Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance (CCQM) which concerned international comparisons and establishment of international equivalence between national laboratories had organized international comparison CCQM-P77a: determination of serum cortisol in 2006.National Institute of Metrology (NIM) took part in the comparison as the representative of China and received good performance according to the results published by CCQM.

高效液相色谱-同位素稀释质谱法测定血清中的苯丙氨酸

Phenylalanine in serum was determined by HPLC isotope dilution mass spectrometry method with D8 labeled phenylalanine as internal standard.Phenylalanine and its isotope labeled analogue were monitored at the transitions m/z=166→120 and 172→126 in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode,respectively,which effectively eliminated the matrix effect.The RSD for 5 repeats measurement of the same sample was 0.5%.Uncertainty was evaluated,which showed the main uncertainty was from the purity assessment of phenylalanine reference material and the variation of method.The presented method can be applied into value assessment of reference material of phenylalanine in serum,and it can be also used for traceability establishment of the measurement of phenylalanine in serum.

Quantification,morphology and source of humic acid,kerogen and black carbon in offshore marine sediments from Xiamen Gulf,China

Three types of macromolecular organic matters （MOMs）, i.e. humic acid （HA）, kerogen＋black carbon （KB）, and black carbon （BC） were extracted from marine sediments of Xiamen Gulf, southeast of China. The chemical composition, morphological property and source of the three extractions were characterized by elemental analyzer/isotope ratio mass spectrometry （EA/IRMS） and scanning electron microscope （SEM）. The results showed that KB was the predominant fraction in MOMs, which accounted for 61.79%-89.15% of the total organic content （TOC）, while HA consisted less than 5%. The relative high contents of kerogen and BC, and low contents of HA in the samples indicated that anthropogenic input might be the major source of organic matter in marine sediments near the industrial regions. The characterization of SEM, not only revealed morphological properties of the three fractions, but also allowed a better understanding of the source of MOMs. The δ 13 C values of the three fractions suggested that materials from terrestrial C 3 plants were predominant. Furthermore, the anthropogenic activities, such as the discharge of sewage, coal and biomass combustion from industry nearby and agricultural practices within drainage basin of the Jiulong River, were remarkably contributed to the variations in δ 13 C values of MOMs in the offshore marine sediments.

Developing an authentication approach using SPME-GC-IRMS based on compound-specific δ^(13)C analysis of six typical volatiles in wine

An analytical method using gas chromatography isotope ratio mass spectrometry(GC-IRMS)combined with solid phase micro-extraction(SPME)was developed to measure the 613C values of six typical volatiles commonly occurring in wine(isoamyl acetate,2-octanone,limonene,2-phenylethanol,ethyl octanoate and ethyl decanoate)for the first time.SPME selected with a divinylbenzene/carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane fiber was combined with the GC-IRMS for pretreatment optimization.The optimized SPME parameters of extraction time,extraction temperature and salt concentration were 40 min,40℃ and 10%,respectively.The 613C values measured by SPME-GC-IRMS were in good agreement with those measured via elemental analyzer(EA)-IRMS and GC-IRMS.The differences range from 0.02‰to 0.44‰ with EA-IRMS and from 0 to 0.28‰ with GC-IRMS,indicating the high accuracy of the method.This newly established method measured the precision within 0.30‰ and was successfully validated to discriminate imported real wine samples with identical label but amazing price differences from different importers.