Lithium, magnesium and sulfur purification from seawater using an ion chromatograph with a fraction collector system for stable isotope measurements

We describe the mass descrimination and validation of an offline method for purification of Li, Mg and S with an ion chromatograph coupled to an automated fraction collector for use prior to stable isotope measurements. Significant sub-fraction mass fractionation was observed for both the Li and the Mg stable isotope ratios. The lighter Li and heavier Mg isotopes were preferentially retained by the column, resulting in 7Li/6Li and 26Mg/24Mg biases up to 85.8‰ and 0.95‰, respectively. The isotopic compositions of Li, Mg, and S separated from seawater were δ7LiL-SVEC = +30.9‰, δ26MgDSM3 = −0.83 ± 0.10‰, and δ34SVCDT = +19.4 ± 0.6‰; each chromatographic peak was completely recovered, and the results were in good agreement with the published values regardless of whether or not chemical suppressor was used. The purification method enables multi-isotope analysis of a sample using various mass spectrometry techniques, such as multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma and thermal ionization mass spectrometry.