Home Comprehensive Inter-Laboratory Calibration of Reference Materials for δ18O Versus VSMOW Using Various On-Line High-Temperature Conversion Techniques
Article Publicly Available

Comprehensive Inter-Laboratory Calibration of Reference Materials for δ18O Versus VSMOW Using Various On-Line High-Temperature Conversion Techniques

Published/Copyright: September 1, 2009
Download Article (PDF)
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Author Information
Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC
From the journal Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC Volume 31 Issue 4

Comprehensive Inter-Laboratory Calibration of Reference Materials for δ18O Versus VSMOW Using Various On-Line High-Temperature Conversion Techniques

W.A. Brand, T.B. Coplen, A.T. Aerts-Bijma, J.K. Böhlke, M. Gehre, H. Geilmann, M. Gröning, H.G. Jansen, H.A. J. Meijer, S.J. Mroczkowski, H. Qi, K. Soergel, H. Stuart-Williams, S.M. Weise, and R.A. Werner

Rapid Comm. Mass Spectrom, 2009

Vol. 23, Issue 7, pp. 999–1019

doi:10.1002/rcm.3958

Internationally distributed organic and inorganic oxygen isotopic reference materials have been calibrated by six laboratories carrying out more than 5 300 measurements using a variety of high-temperature conversion techniques (HTC) in an evaluation sponsored by IUPAC. To aid in the calibration of these reference materials, which span more than 125 per mille, an artificially enriched reference water (δ18O of +78.91 per mille) and two barium sulfates (one depleted and one enriched in 18O) were prepared and calibrated relative to VSMOW2* and SLAP reference waters. These materials were used to calibrate the other isotopic reference materials in this study, which yielded:

Isotopic reference material103 δ(18,16O VSMOW-SLAP)

reference value
IAEA-602 benzoic acid+71.28
USGS35 sodium nitrate+56.81
IAEA-NO-3 potassium nitrate+25.32
IAEA-601 benzoic acid+23.14
IAEA-SO-5 barium sulfate+12.13
NBS 127 barium sulfate+8.59
VSMOW water0
IAEA-600 caffeine–3.48
IAEA-SO-6 barium sulfate–11.35
USGS34 potassium nitrate–27.78
SLAP water–55.5

A primary conclusion of this study is that nitrate samples analyzed for δ(18,16O) should be analyzed with internationally distributed isotopic nitrates, and likewise for sulfates and organics. Authors reporting relative differences of oxygen-isotope ratios [δ(18,16O)] of nitrates, sulfates, or organic material should explicitly state in their reports the δ(18,16O) values of two or more internationally distributed nitrates (USGS34, IAEA-NO-3, and USGS35), sulfates (IAEA-SO-5, IAEA-SO-6, and NBS 127), or organic material (IAEA-601 benzoic acid, IAEA-602 benzoic acid, and IAEA-600 caffeine), as appropriate to the material being analyzed, had these reference materials been analyzed with unknowns. This procedure ensures that readers will be able to normalize the δ(18,16O) values at a later time should it become necessary. The high-temperature reduction technique for analyzing δ(18,16O) and δ(2,1H) is not as widely applicable as the well-established combustion technique for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope determination. To obtain the most reliable stable isotope data, materials should be treated in an identical fashion; within the same sequence of analyses, samples should be compared with working reference materials that are as similar in nature and in isotopic composition as feasible.

*In 2007, VSMOW2 replaced the almost exhausted VSMOW as the primary reference material and anchor to the VSMOW scale (for details, see <http://www-naweb.iaea.org/NAALIHL/> and <http://www-naweb.iaea.org/NAALIHL/docs/ref_mat/InfoSheet-VSMOW2-SLAP2.pdf>). For 18O, VSMOW2 and VSMOW are indistinguishable. The scale itself remains unaltered and keeps its name (“VSMOW”).

www.iupac.org/web/ins/2005-022-1-200

Page last modified 1 July 2009.

Copyright © 2003-2009 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Questions regarding the website, please contact edit.ci@iupac.org

Published Online: 2009-09-01
Published in Print: 2009-07

© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. From the Editor
  3. Contents
  4. Did You Say IUPAC? What’s That?
  5. Maria Skłodowska Curie–Madame Curie: From Poland to France, from France to Poland
  6. Colloid and Interface Science: Alive and Kicking at the 30th Anniversary of IACIS
  7. Nanotechnology: An Answer to the World’s Water Crisis?
  8. REACH: Toward the Safer Management of Chemicals*
  9. Sweet Chemistry
  10. Discovery of the Element with Atomic Number 112
  11. 2009 Winners of the IUPAC Prizes for Young Chemists Announced
  12. RSC Acquires ChemSpider
  13. Marking the Centenary of Houben-Weyl
  14. PI-IUPAC Award 2009–Call for Nominations
  15. Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members
  16. Chemistry Research Funding
  17. Methods of Measurement and Evaluation of Natural Antioxidant Capacity/Activity
  18. Development of a Pesticide Ecological Risk Assessment and Training Module
  19. Basic Guidelines for Polymer Nomenclature
  20. Laboratory Test Terminology Trial-Run Begins
  21. Provisional Recommendations
  22. Thermodynamic and Thermophysical Properties of the Reference Ionic Liquid: 1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluorome-thyl)sulfonyl]amide
  23. Glossary of Terms Used in Ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)
  24. Glossary of Terms Related to Pharmaceutics (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)
  25. Reference Matrices: An Essential Tool for Testing Extrinsic Substance Properties
  26. Comprehensive Inter-Laboratory Calibration of Reference Materials for δ18O Versus VSMOW Using Various On-Line High-Temperature Conversion Techniques
  27. Arsenic Pollution and Remediation: An International Perspective
  28. Compendium of Polymer Terminology and Nomenclature, IUPAC Recommendations 2008
  29. The IUPAC Green Book in Japanese
  30. Sustainable Water
  31. Biopesticides
  32. Molecular Environmental Soil Science
  33. The Transmediterranean Colloquium on Heterocyclic Chemistry
  34. Green Chemistry
  35. Mark Your Calendar
https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2009.31.4.30

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. From the Editor
  3. Contents
  4. Did You Say IUPAC? What’s That?
  5. Maria Skłodowska Curie–Madame Curie: From Poland to France, from France to Poland
  6. Colloid and Interface Science: Alive and Kicking at the 30th Anniversary of IACIS
  7. Nanotechnology: An Answer to the World’s Water Crisis?
  8. REACH: Toward the Safer Management of Chemicals*
  9. Sweet Chemistry
  10. Discovery of the Element with Atomic Number 112
  11. 2009 Winners of the IUPAC Prizes for Young Chemists Announced
  12. RSC Acquires ChemSpider
  13. Marking the Centenary of Houben-Weyl
  14. PI-IUPAC Award 2009–Call for Nominations
  15. Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members
  16. Chemistry Research Funding
  17. Methods of Measurement and Evaluation of Natural Antioxidant Capacity/Activity
  18. Development of a Pesticide Ecological Risk Assessment and Training Module
  19. Basic Guidelines for Polymer Nomenclature
  20. Laboratory Test Terminology Trial-Run Begins
  21. Provisional Recommendations
  22. Thermodynamic and Thermophysical Properties of the Reference Ionic Liquid: 1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluorome-thyl)sulfonyl]amide
  23. Glossary of Terms Used in Ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)
  24. Glossary of Terms Related to Pharmaceutics (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)
  25. Reference Matrices: An Essential Tool for Testing Extrinsic Substance Properties
  26. Comprehensive Inter-Laboratory Calibration of Reference Materials for δ18O Versus VSMOW Using Various On-Line High-Temperature Conversion Techniques
  27. Arsenic Pollution and Remediation: An International Perspective
  28. Compendium of Polymer Terminology and Nomenclature, IUPAC Recommendations 2008
  29. The IUPAC Green Book in Japanese
  30. Sustainable Water
  31. Biopesticides
  32. Molecular Environmental Soil Science
  33. The Transmediterranean Colloquium on Heterocyclic Chemistry
  34. Green Chemistry
  35. Mark Your Calendar
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 23.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ci.2009.31.4.30/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button