Award Date

1-1-2005

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemistry

First Committee Member

Spencer M. Steinberg

Number of Pages

59

Abstract

Fatty acids are one of the most important classes of naturally occurring organic compounds. Various organisms have distinctive fatty acid profiles. Therefore analyzing fatty acids present in soil and sediments can provide important information on sources of origin of the organic matter; Analysis of fatty acids by gas chromatography requires derivatization to produce a derivative volatile enough for gas chromatography followed by mass spectrometric (GC/MS) analysis. In this work conventional acid catalyzed derivatization methods and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) chemopyrolysis methods were examined and compared. Results obtained for Lake Mead sediments show the variation of fatty acids profile with depth, which leads to an important information on sources of organic matter present in the lake.

Keywords

Acids; Analysis; Fatty; Sediment; Soil

Controlled Subject

Chemistry, Analytic; Soil science

File Format

pdf

File Size

1679.36 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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