R. Clayton, T. Mayeda
1963
Citations
49
Influential Citations
2,677
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Abstract
Abstract A technique has been developed in which bromine pentafluoride is used as a reagent for quantitative liberation of oxygen from oxides and silicates. For all of the rocks and minerals analysed, the oxygen yields are 100 ± 2 per cent of the theoretical amount. The advantage over techniques involving reduction with carbon lies in the consistently better oxygen yields, with consequent decrease in systematic errors in isotopic composition. Bromine pentafluoride has advantages over fluorine in being easier and safer to handle in the laboratory, in being readily purified, and in reacting with some minerals which do not react completely with fluorine. The results of isotopic analyses are compared with measurements made in other laboratories by other procedures.