Acquisition of a Liquid Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer

University Of Rochester, Rochester NY

Investigators

Abstract

With this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Departmental Multi-User Instrumentation program (CRIF:MU), Professor Robert K. Boeckman Jr. and Joseph P. Dinnocenzo of the University of Rochester will acquire a high sensitivity, ion trap mass spectrometer equipped with a modern liquid chromatograph (LC-MS), as well as electrospray (ES) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) ion sources. It will be employed in a variety of research projects including the study of: a) the chemistry of group 14 cation radical intermediates; b) the design and development of novel chemo-enzymatic and chemo-biosynthetic methods; c) the chemistry and properties of complexes of the heavier platinum and coinage group elements; d) the discovery of new reactions for the synthesis of natural products; e) the properties of unsaturated, reactive complexes of iron that are catalytically active; and, f) the activation of C-H, C-S, C-CN, and C-F bonds using isotopically labeled transition metal complexes. Mass spectrometry (MS) is used to identify the chemical composition of a sample and determine its purity by measuring the mass of the molecular constituents in the sample after they are ionized and detected by the mass spectrometer. Chromatography is an isolation technique that precedes the mass spectrometry analysis. It separates a mixture into its several constituent chemicals which are then analyzed by the mass spectrometer. These are widely used analytical techniques to identify and quantify the chemical composition of a sample. The acquisition will benefit undergraduate and graduate students through research programs in the Department and through utilization of the mass spectrometer in the undergraduate chemistry laboratories.