Quantitative production of H-2 by pyrolysis of gas chromatographic effluents

Hydrogen gas can be produced quantitatively from nanomole amounts of organi c Hin continuously flowing gas streams. The system described here is suitab le for use in isotope-ratio-monitoring mass spectrometric systems and is ba sed on a pyrolysis reactor consisting of a graphitized alumina tube heated to 1450 degrees C, Methane forms as an intermediate product at temperatures above 750 degrees C, but, for all tested analytes, yields of H-2 were quan titative at temperatures between 1430 and 1460 degrees C, provided residenc e times in the reactor were greater than 300 ms. Quantitative yields of H-2 were obtained for all components of a homologous series of n-alkanes (C-15 to C-30) Analyses of low-molecular-weight alcohols demonstrated that O-bou nd H was also quantitatively converted to H-2 and, thus, that H2O, if forme d, was quantitatively reduced to H-2.