Abstract We present a novel method to measure the 13C/12C isotope ratio (reported as δ13C) of individual, intact bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs) using semi-preparative ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography (UPLC) followed by high temperature gas chromatography–isotope ratio mass spectrometry (HT-GC–IRMS). The method is reproducible, as indicated by the precision of δ13C values for bacteriohopanetetrol (BHT) extracted from R. palustris biomass and analyzed across an order-of-magnitude range of IRMS peak areas (δ13C = −33.4 ± 0.6‰ VPDB, n = 94, ±1σ). To show that this method successfully separates individual BHPs from complex environmental matrices, we report δ13C values for BHT and the BHT stereoisomer (BHT-II) from a ca. 2.9 Ma, organic-rich Mediterranean Sea sediment sample. These analyses suggest that intact BHP δ13C measurements can greatly improve the interpretation of environmental signals by alleviating the need for side-chain cleavage which reduces BHP source-specificity.

中文翻译：

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一种测定完整菌蕈烷多元醇 13 C 组成的新方法

摘要 我们提出了一种使用半制备型超高压液相色谱 (UPLC) 和高温气相色谱 - 同位素比质谱法测量单个完整细菌藿烷多元醇 (BHP) 的 13C/12C 同位素比（报告为 δ13C）的新方法。 HT-GC-IRMS）。该方法是可重复的，正如从沼泽生物质中提取的细菌hopanetetrol (BHT) 的δ13C 值的精度所表明的，并在IRMS 峰面积的数量级范围内进行分析（δ13C = -33.4 ± 0.6‰ VPDB，n = 94，±1σ）。为了表明这种方法成功地将单个 BHP 从复杂的环境基质中分离出来，我们报告了 BHT 和 BHT 立体异构体（BHT-II）的 δ13C 值。2.9 Ma，富含有机物的地中海沉积物样品。