Acquisition of a Cyber-enabled High Performance Electron Impact Mass Spectrometer

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities Multiuser Instrument Acquisition (CRIF-MU) Program, the Department of Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley will purchase a cyber-enabled high performance electron impact sector mass spectrometer equipped with a solids probe and a gas chromatograph. This equipment will enhance research in a number of areas including 1) structural and mechanistic investigations of stoichiometric and catalytic organometallic reactions; 2) synthesis of complex, bioactive drug candidates and natural products; 3) the synthesis of biologically active natural products; 4) the synthesis of high and low oxidation-state transition-metal complexes; 5) development of new synthetic methodology for complex natural products and the synthesis of phenylenes, strychnine and oligocyclopentadienyl metals. Mass spectrometry (MS) is a technique used to probe intimate structural details and to obtain the molecular compositions of a vast array of organic, bioorganic, and organometallic molecules. It is one of the fastest growing and most widely used analytical instrumentation techniques. Because of this, it is important for undergraduate and graduate students to be exposed to the technique. Graduate students, undergraduate summer students and postdoctoral researchers will use this instrument for their research. Furthermore, this mass spectrometer will be cyber-enabled to allow users to remotely run samples and broaden the access to off-campus users including area high schools via the "Chemistry in the Classroom" initiative.