AN ECONOMICAL METHOD FOR THE PREPARATION OF PLANT AND ANIMAL TISSUE FOR DELTA-C-13 ANALYSIS
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This study describes an economical and simple apparatus and methodology for preparing plant material for 13C analysis by the combustion of material in sealed Pyrex tubes at 550C. The largest difference in 13C for samples combusted at 550C in Pyrex tubes compared with those combusted at 800C in the more expensive Vycor tubes was 0.65 units. Pyrex combustion tubes are approximately 7% of the cost of Vycor tubes and are easier to handle. Excellent reproducibility was observed with an average standard deviation for samples combusted at 550C and 800C of 0.12 and 0.13 units of 13C, respectively. During the cryogenic distillation of CO2 from the other gasses generated during the combustion, equilibration and evacuation times were varied between 10 s and 120 s. Sample size was varied between 0.4 mg and 2.2 mg. Variations in evacuation time, equilibrium time, and sample size did not significantly affect the value for 13C. The total duration for the cryogenic distillation of one sample was approximately 5 min. 1991, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
