Enhancing Research and Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage with a state-of-the-art Liquid Chromatograph-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer

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With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation program (MRI), Birgit Hagedorn and colleagues Marc C. Perry, Donald E. Spallinger and Jeffrey M. Welker from the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Campus will acquire high performance liquid chromatography coupled to a tandem mass spectrometer (LC/MS/MS). Mass spectrometry provides powerful compound identification and quantification based on the masses of various fragments as well as for determining the molecular weight of the components of complex mixtures such as lipids, persistent organic pollutants, and tannins which are currently research topics of UAA faculty and students. Furthermore, the mass spectrometer will be combined with an ion chromatograph (IC) to separate anions, such as toxic perchlorate at low concentration in complex matrixes, which is another active research topic at UAA. The spectrometer is ideal because it provides different modes of ionization with a sensitivity of 250 femtograms over a wide mass range (m/z 50-2200). The instrument will be hosted in the Applied Science, Engineering, and Technology (ASET) Laboratory at UAA where a laboratory manager and chemist will provide the knowledge and skills needed to establish methods, maintain the performance of this instrument, and train faculty and students.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 master students to be exposed to the technique. To a first approximation a tandem mass spectrometer can be thought of as two mass spectrometers in series connected by a chamber that can break a molecule into pieces.