Inhaltsbereich
Publications
Abstract (EDOC: 13215)
Climate reconstructions using stable isotopes from tree-rings are steadily increasing. The investigations
concentrate mostly on cellulose due to its high stability. In recent years the available amount
of cellulose has steadily decreased, mainly because micro-structures of plant material have had to be
analyzed. Today, the amounts of cellulose being studied are frequently in the milligram and often in
the microgram range. Consequently, homogeneity problems with regard to the stable isotopes of
carbon and oxygen from cellulose have occurred and these have called for new methods in the
preparation of cellulose for reliable isotope analyses. Three different methods were tested for
preparing isotopically homogenous cellulose, namely mechanical grinding, freezing by liquid
nitrogen with subsequent milling and ultrasonic breaking of cellulose fibres. The best precision
of isotope data was achieved by freeze-milling and ultrasonic breaking. However, equipment for
freeze-milling is expensive and the procedure is labour-intensive. Mechanical grinding resulted in a
rather high loss of material and it is also labour-intensive. The use of ultrasound for breaking
cellulose fibres proved to be the best method in terms of rapidity of sample throughput, avoidance of
sample loss, precision of isotope results, ease of handling, and cost.
(2009): A novel approach for the homogenization of cellulose to use micro-amounts for stable isotope analyses. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 23, 13, 1934-1940.
(2009): A novel approach for the homogenization of cellulose to use micro-amounts for stable isotope analyses. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 23, 13, 1934-1940.