Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 9, 2026

Measuring Carbon-based Contaminant Mineralization Using Combined CO2 Flux and Radiocarbon Analyses
Published on: October 21, 2016
Stable carbon isotope fractionation during the biodegradation of lambda-cyhalothrin
Xiaoli Shen1, Zemin Xu2, Xichang Zhang3
1MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Department of Environmental Engineering, Quzhou University, Quzhou 324000, China.
Abstract:
In this study, the microbial degradation of lambda-cyhalothrin in soil was investigated using compound-specific stable isotope analysis. The results revealed that lambda-cyhalothrin was biodegraded in soil under laboratory conditions. The half-lives of lambda-cyhalothrin were determined to be 49 and 161 days in non-sterile and sterile soils spiked with 2mg/kg lambda-cyhalothrin and 84 and 154 days in non-sterile and sterile soils spiked with 10mg/kg lambda-cyhalothrin, respectively. The biodegradation of lambda-cyhalothrin resulted in carbon isotope fractionation, which shifted from -29.0‰ to -26.5‰ in soil spiked with 2mg/kg lambda-cyhalothrin, and to -27.5‰ with 10mg/kg lambda-cyhalothrin. A relationship was established between the stable carbon isotope fraction and the residual concentrations of lambda-cyhalothrin by the Rayleigh equation in which the carbon isotope enrichment factor ε of the microbial degradation of lambda-cyhalothrin in the soil was calculated as -2.53‰. This study provides an approach to quantitatively evaluate the biodegradation of lambda-cyhalothrin in soil in field studies.
Related Concept Videos
Microbial Bioremediation of Pesticides
Radioactive Decay and Radiometric Dating
Mass Spectrometry: Cycloalkane Fragmentation
For example, cyclohexane molecular ions have a mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of 84, which tends to produce a stronger signal than linear alkanes like hexane. This stability comes from...
Mass Spectrometry: Isotope Effect
¹³C NMR: ¹H–¹³C Decoupling
A broadband decoupling technique is used to simplify these complex, sometimes overlapping, signals. Broadband decoupling relies on a...
Chemical Ionization (CI) Mass Spectrometry

