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Fast 14C Sample Preparation of Organic Material

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Helmut Dörr ,
Bernd Kromer  and
Karl Otto Münnich
Helmut Dörr
Affiliation:
Institut für Umweltphysik der Universität Heidelberg Im Neuenheimer Feld 366, 6900 Heidelberg (FRG)
Bernd Kromer
Affiliation:
Institut für Umweltphysik der Universität Heidelberg Im Neuenheimer Feld 366, 6900 Heidelberg (FRG)
Karl Otto Münnich
Affiliation:
Institut für Umweltphysik der Universität Heidelberg Im Neuenheimer Feld 366, 6900 Heidelberg (FRG)
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Abstract

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A fast 14C sample preparation technique for organic material in conventional 14C counting is described. The basic difference from conventional preparation is oxidation of the organic substances in a closed system under an oxygen pressure of ca 10 bars. After the explosion-like combustion, the reaction products SO2 and NO2 are oxidized immediately to SO42-and NO3− and precipitated on the wall of the reaction vessel. The residual gas mixture is passed first through a cold trap at −78° to remove water vapor and then through an activated charcoal column at 0° for purification. CO2 is removed from the remaining O2−CO2 gas mixture in a LN2 trap at a pressure of ≃ 100mbar. With this method sample preparation time is reduced from ca 10 hr to ca 1 hr. The efficiency and reproducibility of the procedure is shown with 14C and 13C measurements of a sugar-carbon standard. The results obtained by the new technique agree well with conventionally prepared wood and bone samples.

Type
I. Sample Preparation and Measurement Techniques
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 31 , Issue 3: June 20-25, 1988 Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia , 1989 , pp. 264 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

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