Colloquium Series in Analytical Chemistry and Water Chemistry
Summer semester 2025



Invitation to the TUM IWC Lecture



Stable Isotope Toolkits for Environmental Forensics and Paleoclimatology

Dr. Chunlei Wang
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Section Organic Geochemistry, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany



Monday, 14th of April 2025, at 1:00 pm
Building CH-6 Seminar room 36220, Department of Chemistry, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748 Garching



Topic: TUM IWC colloquium SuSe 2025

Join the Zoom meeting
https://tum-conf.zoom-x.de/j/68410084755?pwd=J7eAs86FvPQMdaYUa5bnlSORg7Iq19.1
Meeting ID: 684 1008 4755
ID code: 702781
 
Colloquium Series in Analytical Chemistry and Water Chemistry
Summer semester 2025


Stable Isotope Toolkits for Environmental Forensics and Paleoclimatology

Dr. Chunlei Wang
GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Section Organic Geochemistry, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany

Abstract:
Stable isotope effects, as the key to unlock the code of kinetic, thermodynamic, biochemical, and even femto-chemical processes, have exhibited a power of blooming the breakthroughs in various areas of studies outside its origin in geology. However, its power gets limited by the current analytical techniques and theories, with which we hardly unravel a comprehensive observation of isotope effects in laboratory settings, simulations, or natural environments.
My research focuses on utilizing isotopic signatures of environmental organics for applications in environmental forensic and biogeochemistry studies, with aims to develop and validate novel stable isotope analysis methods to advance next-generation mass spectrometry techniques (e.g., ESI-Orbitrap mass spectrometry) and establish groundbreaking theories related to stable isotope effects.
Tracing the fate of various organic molecules (e.g., in soils, groundwaters, marine environments, fossils, and biomaterials) can be challenging because the precursors and/or products are either unknown/mixed, common in nature, or are labile and/or difficult to measure. Moreover, multiple transformation processes may occur simultaneously, rendering them difficult to distinguish or apportion based solely on tracking the concentrations. To resolve these challenges in environmental forensics, I used 2,4-dinitroanisole as a model compound for deciphering the transformation mechanisms using stable isotope effects, contributing to more effective and efficient fate-tracking and source-identifications in field remediation efforts.
For broader applications in biogeochemistry, ESI-Orbitrap methods were developed and validated for several international standards (e.g., amino acids, urea, perchlorate) and in-house reference materials (e.g., fatty acids, trifluoroacetate). Nanomole-level analytes were injected to achieve precision for 13C, 15N, 18O, and 37Cl of less than 0.2 ‰. The capability for simultaneous high-precision analysis of multi-element isotope ratios in oxyanions, halocarbons and biomolecules is expected to foster innovative discoveries and applications in geosciences, environmental forensics, and physiology.

About Chunlei Wang:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5466-0432