Hallo Gavin and Mark,

During the Benelux Users Group meeting in Utrecht last 18 and 19 March this
LC Isolink device was presented by Michael Krummen of Finnigan (It was said
probably to be the first presentation of the system at such a meeting...!).
Indeed looks very interesting with the new approach to use LC separation
(water as fluid phase) of specific organic mixtures, and also to oxidize
while having the analyte in the fluid phase and, after oxidation, to
separate the CO2 from the fluid (by membrane separation) and mixing the CO2
with a He carrier. The He-CO2 is passed through a Nafion dryer and via an
open split (suited for reference gas introduction) sent into the ion source
of the IRMS. The oxidation reagent consists of two fluids: the oxidizing
agent (eg (NH4)2S2O8 or a similar type of oxidator) and a catalyst
(phosphoric acid with a small amount of silver nitrate).
To me it looks promising, and I follow the 'positive opinion' in the
messages of Gavin and Mark, but first operation in laboratory needs to show
the eventual caveats or problems - as usual for all new systems. But this
can be a good step forward towards an additional method for carbon isotope
analysis of some organic mixtures.
I am also highly interested to see any practical results, so if they exist
let us hear about it. Thanks for raising this matter on the list.

Pier.

**********************************************************************
Dr. Pier A. de Groot
Pastoor Moorkensstraat 16
2400 Mol - Achterbos
Belgium
Tel. +32 (0)14 326 205
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

Visit my WEB-site about my ³Handbook of Stable Isotope Analytical
Techniques² at:
http://users.pandora.be/handbook/index.html
last update: 17 Maart, 2004.
**********************************************************************





> Hello-
>
>  I saw a press release from Thermo Electron about a month ago, regarding
> its new IsoLink LC interface for continuous flow IRMS, but I haven't seen
> any comments on the listserve yet.  Anyone had a chance to work with an
> IsoLink?  Any comments on its performance, ruggedness, etc...?  Any idea
> about how much its going to cost?
>  The idea behind it is pretty cute (in-stream oxidation of organics), but
> I'm wondering how excited people are to work with a system that requires
> only aqueous solvents.
>
>  Thanks for any information you can provide.
>
> Sincerely,
> Gavin Sacks
>