The Shimadzu is used for carbon and nitrogen measurements in aqueous solutions.

You must ensure that you are not contaminating your sample prior to analysis.

Glassware

Glassware for Shimadzu analysis must be ashed prior to use. (How do I ash my glassware?)  We have ashed Shimadzu vials available in lab, or you can buy your own and use our oven to ash them. Please ensure that you buy/borrow these exact vials; our autosampler will only accept vials that are 23mm o.d.  The septa are PTFE/silicone; don't ash these. We recommend soaking/leaching the septa in a clean beaker of MQ for 48 hours and subsequently rinising them in MQ 3x. (Hopefully your sample won't come in contact with the septa.) 

Sampling

It is best to sample with no head space (24 mL). At a minimum, we need 15 mL of sample for two carbon measurements. Samples should be stored cold, but not frozen. The vials will crack with even 5mL of sample.

Labelling

If you use tape to label Shimadzu vials you must make one complete wrap plus a little bit: too much tape (1.5 wraps and they will not fill in the autosampler tray; an incomplete wrap tends to fall off with moisture). Sharpie is fine as long as you have labelled a DRY vial.