Hi Dan,
	We have used ICP-MS (Element 1 high res) for a variety of organics: wood,
claws, feathers, (maybe others I can't remember right now).  In may cases
we can measure 13C as an internal standard, if carbon is high enough in the
organic material to overwhelm atmospheric entrainment.  You must have some
idea of the composition of the organic material.  We typically measure 13C
in medium resolution because there is a strong 12CH interference that can't
be removed at unit mass resolution.  It seems to work relatively well.
Good Luck,
chip

At 08:01 PM 4/23/2008 +1000, you wrote:
>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
>
>
Don Chipley		Ph.  613 533-2183
Queen's Facility for Isotope Research
www.geol.queensu.ca/department/facilities + services/QFIR
Dept. of Geol. Sci.	Fax  613 533-6592
Rm. B240		E-mail  [log in to unmask]
Bruce Wing/Miller Hall
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
K7L 3N6