Dear all,

I have been asked about the possibility of analysing the carbon isotope 
composition of the carbon's in methyl mercury (not the mercury). I have not 
come across anything yet in the literature and was wondering if anyone has 
experience of this or has also looked into doing something like this. I am 
not sure whether a Dumas combustion is the way to go - would the compound 
dissociate and "burn" and would the Hg be reduced to its elemental state 
where the vapours might be picked up with a gold trap? It would be neat to 
be able to inject it into an EA (with gold trap in line) if it does 
combust, but I have no idea whether this is even remotely possible (and I 
don't really want to 'try and see').
thankyou in advance for any advice,

Linda


Linda Godfrey

Institute Marine and Coastal Sciences
Rutgers University
71 Dudley Road
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
tel 732 932 6555 (243)