MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for Organic Molecular Research

这项主要研究仪器拨款的资金将用于购买多种仪器，以支持生物地球化学和古环境研究，这些研究依赖于分析复杂有机分子中C、O和N的稳定同位素特征，作为微生物活动和过去环境的代表。需要购买的仪器包括：1)气相色谱仪，带有四极杆质谱仪和火焰电离检测器（GC/MS-FID）；2)带有高温热解附件的GC；3)与制备馏分收集器耦合的气相色谱；4)高效液相色谱-飞行时间质谱联用仪。这些仪器将被安置在一个有专门技术人员的集中设施中。该设备将允许进行详细的结构分析和广泛的天然和实验有机化合物的非破坏性收集，用于随后的化合物特定放射性碳测年，金属配体复合物分析和稳定同位素分析，以开发地质记录中新的代理温度记录。五个pi及其研究生的研究兴趣涵盖大气化学、全球碳循环、藻类和陆生有机化合物现代同位素组成的环境代用物的发展、痕量金属络合、有机物的成岩途径、生物地球化学和分子地球微生物学，将受益于这些先进的能力。

Funds from this Major Research Instrumentation grant will support acquisition of multiple instruments to support biogeochemical and paleoenvironmental research that relies on analyses of the stable isotopic signatures of C, O and N in complex organic molecules as proxies of microbial activity and past environments. Instruments to be acquired include: 1) a gas chromatograph with both a quadrupole mass analyzer and flame ionization detection (GC/MS-FID); 2) a GC with high temperature pyrolysis attachment; 3) a GC coupled with a preparative fraction collector; and 4) a high performance liquid chromatograph- time of flight mass spectrometer (TOF-LC/MS). The instruments will be housed in a centralized facility with a dedicated technician. The equipment will allow for detailed structural analysis and non-destructive collection of a broad range of natural and experimental organic compounds for subsequent compound-specific radiocarbon dating, metal-ligand complex analysis, and stable isotopic analysis for development of novel proxy temperature records in the geologic record. Five PIs and their graduate students with research interests spanning atmospheric chemistry, the global carbon cycle through time, development of environmental proxies from modern isotopic compositions of algal and terrestrial organic compounds, trace metal complexation, diagenetic pathways of organic matter, biogeochemistry, and molecular geomicrobiology will benefit from these advanced capabilities.