Helmholtz Zentrum München, Institute of Groundwater Ecology, Neuherberg, Germany.
Anal Bioanal Chem. 2012 Jul;403(9):2471-91. doi: 10.1007/s00216-011-5683-y.
Compound-specific stable-isotope analysis (CSIA) has greatly facilitated assessment of sources and transformation processes of organic pollutants. Multielement isotope analysis is one of the most promising applications of CSIA because it even enables distinction of different transformation pathways. This review introduces the essential features of continuous-flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and highlights current challenges in environmental analysis as exemplified for the isotopes of nitrogen, hydrogen, chlorine, and oxygen. Strategies and recent advances to enable isotopic measurements of polar contaminants, for example pesticides or pharmaceuticals, are discussed with special emphasis on possible solutions for analysis of low concentrations of contaminants in environmental matrices. Finally, we discuss different levels of calibration and referencing and point out the urgent need for compound-specific isotope standards for gas chromatography-isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) of organic pollutants.
化合物稳定同位素比值分析（CSIA）极大地促进了对有机污染物来源和转化过程的评估。多元素同位素分析是 CSIA 最有前途的应用之一，因为它甚至可以区分不同的转化途径。本综述介绍了连续流动同位素比质谱（IRMS）的基本特征，并强调了当前环境分析中的挑战，例如氮、氢、氯和氧同位素的分析。讨论了使极性污染物（例如农药或药物）的同位素测量成为可能的策略和最新进展，特别强调了分析环境基质中低浓度污染物的可能解决方案。最后，我们讨论了不同水平的校准和参考，并指出迫切需要针对有机污染物的气相色谱-同位素比质谱（GC-IRMS）进行化合物特异性同位素标准的制定。
