Liquid scintillation counting can underestimate 14C-activity of 14CO2 trapped in NaOH
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Liquid scintillation counting can underestimate 14C-activity of 14CO2 trapped in NaOH. / Boos, Elinor F.; Magid, Jakob; Bruun, Sander; Jørgensen, Niels O.G.
In: Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 166, 108576, 2022.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Liquid scintillation counting can underestimate 14C-activity of 14CO2 trapped in NaOH
AU - Boos, Elinor F.
AU - Magid, Jakob
AU - Bruun, Sander
AU - Jørgensen, Niels O.G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Mineralization of organic matter in environmental samples is frequently quantified by trapping 14CO2 released from the degradation of 14C-labelled compounds. However, when 14CO2 trapped in NaOH is quantified by liquid scintillation counting, 14C-activity can be gradually lost from the scintillation vials. When combining different molarities and volumes of NaOH and five commercial scintillation cocktails, we observed in some mixtures a rapid loss in 14C-activity of up to 10% after 0.5 h and 60% after 96 h, while other mixtures showed no loss of 14C-activity for at least 96 h. The 14C-activity loss depended on molarity, volume, and CO2 saturation of NaOH, as well as the scintillation cocktail used and the mixing ratio of the two components. We show that the decline of 14C-activity may be caused by the loss of 14CO2 from the scintillation vials. The loss of 14C-activity must be prevented and therefore we provide recommendations how to accurately quantify 14C-activity of 14CO2 trapped in NaOH using liquid scintillation counting.
AB - Mineralization of organic matter in environmental samples is frequently quantified by trapping 14CO2 released from the degradation of 14C-labelled compounds. However, when 14CO2 trapped in NaOH is quantified by liquid scintillation counting, 14C-activity can be gradually lost from the scintillation vials. When combining different molarities and volumes of NaOH and five commercial scintillation cocktails, we observed in some mixtures a rapid loss in 14C-activity of up to 10% after 0.5 h and 60% after 96 h, while other mixtures showed no loss of 14C-activity for at least 96 h. The 14C-activity loss depended on molarity, volume, and CO2 saturation of NaOH, as well as the scintillation cocktail used and the mixing ratio of the two components. We show that the decline of 14C-activity may be caused by the loss of 14CO2 from the scintillation vials. The loss of 14C-activity must be prevented and therefore we provide recommendations how to accurately quantify 14C-activity of 14CO2 trapped in NaOH using liquid scintillation counting.
KW - C-activity loss
KW - CO
KW - Base trap
KW - Liquid scintillation counting
KW - Scintillation cocktail
U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108576
DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108576
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85123883651
VL - 166
JO - Soil Biology & Biochemistry
JF - Soil Biology & Biochemistry
SN - 0038-0717
M1 - 108576
ER -
ID: 300914940