Doppler broadening as a probe of the chemical environment following oxygen-14 decay

A search for the Doppler broadening following the beta decay of oxygen-14 w as conducted with high resolution gamma spectroscopy on the 2313 keV gamma ray. Such a broadening should signal the mass of the labeled molecule and t he nature of the stopping medium. Oxygen-14 labeled H2O, O-2 and CO2 trappe d on solid soda lime were investigated. No broadening was observed beyond t he 1.65 keV instrumental resolution of the Ge detector, monitored by the un broadened 2319 keV isomeric transition in Nb-90 decay.