ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
Photosynthesis imparts a unique isotopic signature to the O2 it produces via “isotopic clumping,” a phenomenon in which molecules accumulate two or more heavy isotopes. Molecules with clumped isotopes are uncommon, but modern mass spectrometers can reliably measure their abundances. Isotope clumping as a field is only 10 years old and has been used to deduce the formation temperatures of minerals. When a system is at chemical equilibrium, isotopic clumps are found more often than random chance would predict. But on the basis of a study of isotopically clumped O2 (18O18O and 18O17O) in hyacinth plants, Laurence Yeung, Jeanine Ash, and Edward D. Young of UCLA show that photosynthesis actually produces isotopically clumped O2 less often than chance would predict (Science 2015, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa6284). In another investigation, a team lead by David T. Wang and Shuhei Ono of MIT studied isotopically clumped methane, 13CH3D. They showed that its relative abundances can be used to identify methane sources produced by cattle (Science 2015, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa4326). “Clumped isotope anomalies will help place much-needed constraints on biogeochemical sources, sinks, and budgets of O2 and CH4,” writes Johns Hopkins University’s Benjamin H. Passey, in an accompanying commentary.
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on Twitter