Acquisition of a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer

Wake Forest University, Winston Salem NC

Investigators

Abstract

With this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Departmental Multi-User Instrumentation program (CRIF:MU), Professors Christa L. Colyer and Rebecca W. Alexander will acquire a quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometer (MS). The instrument will be used to support research in the following areas: 1) affinity-based capillary electrophoresis studies to facilitate bioprobe design and microbe detection; 2) dissecting inter-domain communication in methionyl-tRNA synthetase; 3) excited state energy transfer amongst natural products; 4) structures and redox chemistry in sulfinic acid reduction; 5) modeling biological networks in arabidopsis through integration of genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data; and, 6) cysteine sulfenic acids in catalysis and regulation. 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. Mass spectrometry is one of the most widely used analytical tools by chemists and biochemists. The acquisition will provide training for undergraduate and graduate students in this technique using modern instrumentation through research programs in the department and in the undergraduate chemistry laboratories.