The purification of ¹⁸O-water

Abstract

A reliable method for the purification of 15 to 20 mg samples of ¹⁸O-water, as a preliminary step to the measurement of isotopic composition by a density technique, is described. The method is based on the use of copper oxide as the oxidizing agent but negligible isotopic dilution is involved as the oxygen of the oxide is obtained by electrolysing a small fraction of the water requiring purification. The total purification time is about 1 hr.