Isotopes of oxygen

Isotope data
oxygen symbol icon

All three Oxygen isotopes have medical applications. O-16 is used in the production of radioactive N-13 which is used for PET imaging and myocardial perfusion. O-17 can be used as a tracer in the study of cerebral oxygen utilization. Large quantities of O-18 are used for the production of F-18. F-18 is used to produce 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) which is used as a tracer in positron emission tomography or PET. Millions of these FDG-PET medical procedures are performed annually to investigate a range of diseases in various human organs. Oxygen isotopes can be obtained from Trace Sciences International.

Naturally occurring isotopes

This table shows information about naturally occuring isotopes, their atomic masses, their natural abundances, their nuclear spins, and their magnetic moments. Further data for radioisotopes (radioactive isotopes) of oxygen are listed (including any which occur naturally) below.
Isotope Atomic mass (ma/u) Natural abundance (atom %) Nuclear spin (I) Magnetic moment (μ/μN)
16O 15.99491463 (5) 99.757 (16) 0 0
17O 16.9991312 (4) 0.038 (1) 5/2 -1.89380
18O 17.9991603 (9) 0.205 (14) 0 0

Isotopic abundances of O
In the above picture, the most intense ion is set to 100% since this corresponds best to the output from a mass spectrometer. This is not to be confused with the relative percentage isotope abundances which total 100% for all the naturally occurring isotopes.

Radiosotope data

Further data for naturally occuring isotopes of oxygen are listed above. This table gives information about some radiosotopes of oxygen, their masses, their half-lives, their modes of decay, their nuclear spins, and their nuclear magnetic moments.
Isotope Mass Half-life Mode of decay Nuclear spin Nuclear magnetic moment
14O 14.008595 70.60 s EC to 14N 0
15O 15.003065 122.2 s EC to 15N 1/2 0.719
19O 19.003577 26.9 s β- to 19F 5/2
20O 20.004076 13.5 s β- to 20F 0
21O 21.008730 3.4 s β- to 21F
22O 22.0101 2.2 s β- to 22F

Sheffield ChemPuter isotope pattern calculator

You can use WebElements to calculate an isotope pattern for an arbitrary chemical formula:

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References

  1. Naturally occurring isotope abundances: Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances report for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in Isotopic Compositions of the Elements 1989, Pure and Applied Chemistry, 1998, 70, 217. [Copyright 1998 IUPAC]
  2. Masses, nuclear spins, and magnetic moments: I. Mills, T. Cvitas, K. Homann, N. Kallay, and K. Kuchitsu in Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK, 1988. [Copyright 1988 IUPAC]
  3. For further information about radioisotopes see Jonghwa Chang's (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) Table of the Nuclides

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