I was off sick for most of the week last week, but I came in Friday to have a look at my 13C malonic acid spiked snow samples. Approx. a week ago, after my new batch of malonic acid had arrived, I have increased the concentration in order to make it sensitive enough for the NMR.
Yesterday I ran my first sample – and it worked. A nice 13C2 malonic acid peak at approx 45 ppm (right next to the DMSO solvent). I am very confident that I will find the same signal in the other two samples that I have spiked the same way (a second snow sample and an ultra-pure water blank). There are two more tiny spikes in the spectrum, but I have to discuss this with the NMR-Admin, if these are artifacts or “potentially emerging” signals. Again, everything was done under sterile conditions in order to avoid any outside contamination.
I have also registered for this year’s AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco – I am looking forwared to going there again and present some new aspects of my research. I also want to talk to a few people about my planned trip to the Arctic next spring and know about their experience.
