A gas chromatography/isotope ratio monitoring mass spectrometry (GC/IRMS) method was established for the determination of stable carbon isotopic compositions of individual saturated
n-fatty acids ranging from C
16 to C
30. The fatty acids were derivatized to their methyl esters using BF
3/methanol, and three
n-alkanes were used as internal isotopic standard. Isotopic mass balance calculation indicated that the esterification caused no isotopic fractionation between the methyl ester moiety of fatty acid and methanol used. Therefore, isotopic correction was made by one additional carbon atom with the δ
13C value of methanol. Analytical accuracy (deviation of the corrected δ
13C values determined by GC/IRMS from those determined by a conventional method) and precision (standard deviation) were satisfactory for 90 to 360 ng of individual standard fatty acids examined. The accuracy was ±0.3‰ for average of several analyses, and the precision within 0.3‰. This method was applied to the δ
13C determination of
n-fatty acids ranging from C
20 to C
30 in a marine sediment.
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