Evaluating the use of NMR for the determination of deuterium abundance in water

Martinez, Alex (2022) Evaluating the use of NMR for the determination of deuterium abundance in water. Bachelor's Thesis, Physics.

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Abstract

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance can nowadays be used to quantitatively measure isotopic concentration of samples. The aim of this project is to explore whether this could be applicable to water isotope research at the University of Groningen. The study of isotopes, and particularly water, has a variety of applications, ranging from food authentication and medicine to climate science. The use of NMR in this field instead of more conventional alternatives like mass spectrometry would offer several advantages, such as site-specific information and non-destructive measurements. Thus, quantitative deuterium isotopic abundance experiments were performed and analysed using MestReNova software. Initially no reference compound was used, and later acetonitrile was added as an internal reference with a customised isotopic abundance. Measurements were performed with a set of waters and then calibrated. Results showed a wide spread in peak area between different measurements, which was affected by integration area and waiting time before the first experiment, among other factors. Deuterium peak areas were more divergent for higher integral limits, while for protons the change in precision was not as significant. Final results showed a desirable accuracy in three out of four sample waters, but standard deviation of samples remained higher than would be desirable. Further research should thus focus on increasing the stability of this technique.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Meijer, H.A.J. and Paul, D.
Degree programme:	Physics
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	12 Jul 2022 10:20
Last Modified:	20 Jul 2022 11:26
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/27767

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