Japan Science and Technology Corporation
(JST) developed a new technique to analyze
the difference between isotopomers of
N２O which is one of global warming gases,
as a part of the research in its core
research for evolutional science and technology
(CREST) project, and succeeded to observe
practically N２O molecules in the atmosphere.
This achievement was made by a group led
by Professor Naohiro Yoshida of the Graduate
School of Tokyo Institute of Technology,
as part of the research theme "Isotopomer
Analysis of Environmental Materials for
their Source Derimination" in the research
area "Social System for Better Environmental
Performance" of the CREST project. The
research results were published in the
British science journal "Nature" issued
on May 18.
As for substances in the environment,
there exist a great number of isotopomers
which have the same chemical formula but
have slighty different properties due
to isotope differences, their positions
and combinations. One can find the origin
and other properties of a substance by
analyzing its isotopomers. The above-mentioned
research theme aims at this analysis.
N２O is not only one of the global warming
gases but also an important atmospheric
component deeply relating to the formation
and depletion of the ozonosphere, and
the existence of 5 sorts of its isotopomers
in nature has been known. Among them,
１４N １５N １６O and １５N １４N １６O are isotopomers
in which the 2 nitrogens composing the
molecule have different positions from
each other. But, since they have equal
molecular weight, they could not be distinguished
to date.
However, N２O is separated into NO＋ ion
and NNO＋ ion. By subjecting the １４NO＋
ion and １５NO＋ ion generated in this way
to mass spectrometry, the present research
could separate the mutually different
isotopomers as they are.
(For further information, please contact
the Publicity Section, Department of General
Affairs, JST: phone 048-226-5606)
(Source:STA TODAY Jun 2000) |
