In order to measure Cu isotope ratios of various materials, several steps must be taken prior to the isotopic measurement in order to extract and purify copper. The first step in the analytical pipeline to measure Cu isotopes is to liberate Cu from its host material. Liberation should be quantitative, otherwise fractionation may be introduced at this step. Cu-containing rocks are generally dissolved with HF; biological materials are commonly digested with HNO. Seawater samples must be concentrated due to the low (nM) concentrations of Cu in the ocean. The sample material is subsequently run through an anion-exchange column to isolated and purify Cu. This step can also introduce Cu isotope fractionation if Cu is not quantitatively recovered from the column. If samples are from seawater, other ions (e.g., Na, Mg, Ca) must be removed in order to eliminate isobaric interferences during the isotope measurement. Prior to 1992, Cu/Cu ratios were measured via thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). Today, Cu isotopic compositions are measured via multi-conductor inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS), which ionizes samples using inductively coupled plasma and introduces smaller errors than TIMS.