A Rapid Procedure for Isotopic Purification of Copper and Nickel from Seawater Using an Automated Chromatography System

Background: Trace metals such as iron, nickel, copper, zinc, and cadmium (Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Cd) are essential micronutrients (and sometimes toxins) for phytoplankton, and the analysis of trace-metal stable isotopes in seawater is a valuable tool for exploring the biogeochemical cycling of these elements in the ocean. However, the complex and often time-consuming chromatography process required to purify these elements from seawater has limited the number of trace-metal isotope samples which can be easily processed in biogeochemical studies. To facilitate the trace-metal stable isotope analysis, here, we describe a new rapid procedure that utilizes automated chromatography for extracting and purifying Ni and Cu from seawater for isotope analysis using a prepFAST-MC™ system (Elemental Scientific Inc.).

Results: We have tested the matrix removal effectiveness, recoveries, and procedural blanks of the new purification procedure with satisfactory results. A nearly complete recovery of Ni and a quantitative recovery of Cu are achieved. The total procedural blanks are 0.33 ± 0.24 ng for Ni and 0.42 ± 0.18 ng for Cu, which is negligible for natural seawater samples. The new procedure cleanly separates Ni and Cu from key seawater matrix elements that may cause interferences during mass spectrometry analysis. When the new procedure was used to purify seawater samples for Ni and Cu stable isotope analysis by multi-collector ICP-MS, we achieved an overall uncertainty of 0.07 ‰ for δNi and 0.09 ‰ for δCu (2 SD). The new purification procedure was also tested using natural seawater samples from the South Pacific, for comparison of δNi and δCu achieved in the same samples purified by traditional hand columns. Both methods produced similar results, and the results from both methods are consistent with analyses of δNi and δCu from other ocean locations as reported by other laboratories.

Significance: This study presents a new rapid procedure for seawater stable-metal isotope analysis by automating the chromatography step. We anticipate that the automated chromatography described here will facilitate the rapid and accurate analysis of seawater δNi and δCu in future studies, and may be adapted in the future to automate chromatographic purification of Fe, Zn, and Cd isotopes from seawater.