The Study of Elusive Neutrals and Ion Structures by Neutralization-Reionization Mass Spectrometry Methods

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the studies of Professor Chrys Wesdemiotis on the synthesis of neutral, gas-phase intermediates and their characterization by neutralization-reionization mass spectroscopy. Neutral intermediates, such as carbyne, silanone, amino acid radicals and hypermetalated species, will be prepared from the corresponding mass-selected cations or anions under conditions of endothermic neutralization at low kinetic energy. Ionization energies, proton affinities and heats of formation of these neutral intermediates will be extracted from the measured neutralization endothermicity. The different stabilities and reactivities of amino acids and peptides neutralized by proton attachment will be exploited to distinguish proton binding sites and their relative proton affinities in multi-functional biomolecules. Graduate and undergraduate students carrying out the experiments will be exposed to the construction of the neutralization-reionization mass spectrometer, its application to different chemical systems, and the analysis of the resulting data. With this New award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the research and educational activities of Professor Chrys Wesdemiotis of the University of Akron. Professor Wesdemiotis will focus his research on the synthesis and characterization of neutral intermediates that are currently thought to be short-lived intermediates in a number of chemical transformations. A number of intermediates will be prepared in the gas phase and examined under low-energy neutralization conditions in order to obtain long-sought thermodynamic parameters. The educational activities of Professor Wesdemiotis will include the training of undergraduate and graduate students in the theory and applications of neutralization-reionization mass spectroscopy.