Service

STABLE ISOTOPES LABORATORY (LIE-IRNAS)

Staff

José Antonio González Pérez (Scientific Manager)

Nicasio T. Jiménez Morillo

Desire Monis Carrere

Alba Carmona Navarro

Contact

email: servicioisotopos@irnas.csic.es

LIE-IRNAS Service

Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla Avda. Reina Mercedes, 10 41012 – Sevilla

Phone: 954624711

Prices

Prices 2025

Service Requests

Request (PDF downloadable)

“Once the PDF has been downloaded and the application has been completed, it will be sent to the e-mail address indicated in the document itself, together with the complementary documentation required”.

Description of the service

The MOSS Group is responsible for the Stable Isotope Laboratory (LIE-IRNAS: Technical Scientific Service of the CSIC Cod. 824754). The service maintains fully renovated organic geochemistry laboratories equipped with advanced analytical instrumentation including GC/MS, Py-GC/MS, GC/Q-TOF, Py-GC/Q-TOF, IRMS, GC-C/HT-IRMS ( CSIA), Py-GC-C/HT-IRMS (Py-CSIA) and EGA, having the capacity for the detailed and precise characterization of complex materials (biomass, coals, carbonates, oils and derived products, soils, sediments, etc.), polymers, natural (lignins, chitins, polyesters, keratins, cutins, suberins, humic acids, etc.), synthetic (conventional plastic materials, microplastics, rubbers, gums and new biopolymers) and possible contaminants and additives that they may contain.

Currently, the service provides technical support and collaborates with IRNAS research groups, other CSIC centres and universities, as well as administrations and companies, at the national and international levels.

The LIE-IRNAS has highly qualified personnel and modern laboratory equipment, allowing it to accommodate a wide range of analytical objectives and requirements. It can tailor its services to meet various analytical needs. Additionally, if needed, the LIE-IRNAS collaborates in studying the problems and needs of its users, provides advice on the most suitable analyses and processes for solving the issues, and offers collaboration for interpreting the obtained results.

The researcher in charge of the LIE-IRNAS Service is José A. González Pérez (ORCID: 0000-0001-7607-1444). He is a senior researcher at the CSIC with extensive experience and an international reputation in Soil Science, Organic Geochemistry and special chromatographic separation techniques coupled with state-of-the-art mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS; Py-GC/Q-TOF; Py-CSIA).

Quality Commitment

The service has a Letter of Commitment (in Spanish) on the IRNAS website, focusing on two main aspects:

1) providing measurements with a high degree of precision and accuracy

2) ensuring the client’s satisfaction with the results obtained and the interaction with our scientific and technical staff throughout the process. In addition, the service has obtained ISO 9001 certification with reference number ES133745-1.

Letter of Commitment (in Spanish)

Services

Analysis of compounds and biomarkers: GC/MS; Py-GC/MS; GC/Q-TOF; Py-GC/Q-TOF; EGA-MS A partr de 2020 GC/Q-TOF; Py-GC/Q-TOF

Separation and analysis of compounds using gas chromatography, nominal (single quadrupole GC/MS) or ultra-high resolution (exact mass) mass spectrometry (GC/Q-TOF). This can be done by injecting a substance or extract (GC/MS; GC/Q-TOF) or directly from the sample through analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS; EGA; Py-GC/Q-TOF).

For conventional and ultra-high resolution gas chromatography and analytical pyrolysis, our laboratories have several chromatographs (Agilent, various models) coupled to mass selective detectors (Agilent MSD) and time of flight (Agilent 7250 GC/Q-TOF) and micro-oven pyrolyzers (Frontier Labs 3030i and 2020d) with the possibility of sequential analysis on the same sample (multi-shot) at different temperatures (50 – 1,100 ºC).

Using EGA, the gas released from a solid sample heated in the absence of air (He) is studied. The sample is heated from 50°C to 700°C at a constant temperature rise rate of 20°C/min^-1. The evolved gases are analyzed directly by mass spectrometry (MS) using a FrontierLabs micro-oven pyrolyzer (3030i) in line with an Agilent 5975B InertXL EI/CI MSD mass spectrometer. This method can characterise biomass, soils, sediments, synthetic or natural polymers, and organic contaminants in various solid matrices.

Elemental analysis and stable isotope composition: EA; EA/HT-IRMS

Analysis of the isotopic composition of light elements δ¹³C, δ²H, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O (‰) in solid and liquid samples. The proportion (%) of each element in the sample (C, H, O, N) can also be indicated (Elemental Analysis).

The instrumentation consists of a continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) (Thermo Delta V Advantage) connected via a ConFlow IV interface to an elemental analyzer (Flash Smart IRMS Elemental Analyzer) equipped with combustion (C) and pyrolysis ovens. (TC) and AS2000 zero blank solids autosamplers (for 96 samples) and AS3000 liquid autosamplers (for 32 samples) (CF-TC/EA IRMS) for the analysis of stable isotopes of H, C, N and O in whole “bulk” samples. In addition, we have a dedicated elemental analyzer (Thermo Flash HT 2000) for elemental analysis (C and N).

Compound Specific Stable Isotope Analysis (CSIA): GC-C/TC-IRMS

Isotopic analysis on specific compounds isolated chromatographically (CSIA) by conventional injection (GC-C/TC-IRMS) or directly from the sample by pyrolysis (Py-GC-C/TC-IRMS). We can provide isotopic values for C, H, & N (δ¹³C, δ²H, δ¹⁵N). Additionally, we can provide identification of chromatographic peaks (compounds).

The instrumentation consists of a continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) (Thermo Delta V Advantage) connected via a ConFlow IV interface to a gas chromatograph (Thermo Trace GC Ultra) and this to an Isolink GC unit with two reactors. The equipment allows the analysis of isotopic ratios δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N or δ²H, in specific compounds separated by conventional GC (GC-C/TC-IRMS) or directly from pyrolysis (Frontier Labs 3030i) (Py-GC-C/TC -IRMS).