Mass Spectrometry
The Chemical and Biological Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility, under the full-time direction of Dr. Dennis Phillips, is located opposite the Chemical Sciences Magnetic Resonance Facility in the Chemistry Building.. The facility is equipped with four mass spectrometers. A Finnigan 4000 and Hewlett Packard MSD GC/MS which are used to obtain electron bombardment mass spectra for small organic molecules (MW>1,000 Da). GC introduction is used for volatile samples and mixtures; direct probe introduction is available for low volatility samples. Two new mass spectrometers are available for high molecular weight samples and these are extensively used by faculty with biologically related research programs. A Sciex API-1 quadrupole mass spectrometer with an electrospray ionization source can be used for LC/MS in conjunction with an ABI microbore or a TSP analytical HPLC system. A Bruker reflex time-of-flight mass spectrometer is used for laser desorption analyses of high molecular weight compounds (1,000-300,000 Da). The Bruker instrument is equipped with delayed extraction electronics and is able to provide isotopic resolution to m/z 5000. It can be used for structure analysis using post-source decay measurements on molecules in the 1,000-10,000 Da range.
Several faculty also use mass spectrometers in their individual research programs, and the department is particularly well-equipped with these instruments. Current instrumentation includes: 1) Two Fourier transform mass spectrometers; one equipped with a Nd:YAG laser for MALDI analysis of peptides, proteins, and polymers, and the other equipped with an electrospray ionization source for studies of high molecular weight biomolecules, 2) an electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometer with both electrospray and nanoelectrospray ionization sources, 3) three pulsed supersonic molecular beam machines for atomic cluster analysis, using hybrid reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometers, 4) a membrane-inlet VG mass spectrometer, 5) flowing after-glow instruments with mass-selective detection, and 6) a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer for laser desorption studies of large biomolecules.