Hi All,

Does anyone have experience with laser-ablation mass
spectrometery (specifically ICP-MS) on organic
samples? I'm considering attempting some analyses on
antipatharian coral skeletons, which are made from
gorgonin - a tough chitinous organic material. 

I have two questions:

1) Does laser-ablating organic material create
problems for the instrument (such as contamination of
the instrument, major shifts in sensitivity, and/or
'gumming up' of the plates and cones and detectors and
such)? If so, is there an effective way of 'cleaning'
the instrument after such analyses.

2) I'm used to CaCO3 analyses where one normalises all
analyses to calcium (to correct for fluctuations in
ablation efficiency). What would one do for an organic
material? I don't know if there is an effective way of
monitoring C on quadrapole ICP-MS. Maybe there is
another component of the material that could be
monitored to normalise ablation (S perhaps?)

I'd be grateful for any help or advice!

Cheers,

Dan Sinclair



Scottish Association for Marine Sciences
Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratories
Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA
Scotland

Ph: +44 (0)1631 559 412
Fax: +44 (0)1631 559 001

http://www.sams.ac.uk/research/sams-scientific-staff
http://www.ig.utexas.edu/people/staff/dan/


      Get the name you always wanted with the new y7mail email address. www.yahoo7.com.au/y7mail