US Patent Application 20100055802 - Analysis using separation combined with chemical conversion followed by optical spectroscopy
InventorsUS Classes436/158, Dividing or separating a sample stream422/82.05, Measuring optical property by using ultraviolet, infrared, or visible light422/83, Means for analyzing gas sample422/89, Gas chromatography422/70, Liquid chromatography204/601, Capillary electrophoresis type204/606, Gel electrophoresis type422/80, And means directly analyzing evolved gas436/164, OPTICAL RESULT436/161, INCLUDING CHROMATOGRAPHY204/451, Capillary electrophoresis204/456Gel electrophoresisAttorney, Agent or FirmInternational ClassesG01N 21/75G01N 21/00 G01N 30/74 G01N 27/26 Abstract textThe present invention relates to the separation, quantitative measurement, and analysis of trace species using a combination of three steps in succession. First, trace species are separated from other species that are present. Second, the trace species are chemically modified to convert them into specific species that are advantageous for the third and final step. In this last step, cavity enhanced optical detection of the converted species is performed to detect and measure the concentrations of the species of interest. Because the last step has spectroscopic resolution, the concentration of isotopologues in each converted species can be determined. Further processing can provide the ratios between pairs of isotopologues, in particular the ratio of the rare isotopologues to the most abundant isotopologue. |
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