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Anhydro-suggar determination
Anhydro-suggar determination
Metrohm has presented a new sensible and rugged analytical method to determine routinely atmospheric markers in aerosols originating from the combustion of biomases, such as levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan, and of primary biogenic sources such as arabitol and mannitol. The analytical method couples ion chromatography with a highly sensitive pulsed amperometric detector IC-PAD providing a simple alternative to GC/MS, which requires laborious sample extraction and derivatization. The anhydrosugars are products originating from the thermal degradation of the cellulose and hemicelluloses. They are part of an important fraction of water-soluble organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols. Analogously, the sugar alcohols arabitol and mannitol are tracers of primary bioparticles within the aerosols. The anhydrosugars and the sugar alcohols may affect significantly natural phenomena such as the formation of clouds and precipitation, and therewith, the climate in general. Two columns where connected for this application: a Metrosep A Supp 15 - 150/4.0 to a Metrosep Carb 1 - 150/4.0. The calibration for both, anhydrosugars and sugar alcohols is linear in a wide range of concentrations. In less than 17 minutes a separation could be performed with a detection limit for levoglucosan of approx. 5 ng/m3. The aerosol samples were trapped on a filter after the aspiration of a determined volume of air.

Metrohm, Switzerland (05/16/2011)
Mark NTL310-41