The use of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) in biomedical research will
require the development of cost-effective, laboratory-sized AMS systems tha
t can be used in conjunction with gas and liquid phase separation technique
s. This paper describes a prototype GC-AMS system designed for the detectio
n of C-14 and H-3 in organic samples. The entire AMS system including the i
njector, ion source, tandem accelerator, and high-energy analyzer is approx
imately 3.5 m wide, 1.5 m high and 1 m deep. Also described are methods for
converting gas chromatograph (GC) effluent to gaseous CO2 for C-14-labeled
compounds. A gas-fed cesium (Cs) sputter ion source converts the CO2 into
C- for injection into the AMS accelerator, allowing on-line analysis of C-1
4-labeled biological samples with AMS, (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All r
ights reserved.