MRI: Acquisition of a TOF High Resolution Mass Spectrometer

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With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, the Chemistry Department at Duke University will acquire a LC-TOF high resolution mass spectrometer for use in teaching and research. A variety of research projects will be investigated including: Chemical Tools to Manipulate Metal-Catalyzed Oxidative Stress, Catalytic Hydrofunctionalization, Modular Recombinant Transporter-Assisted Nuclear Delivery for AGT Imaging, Self-healing Polymers, Energy Transduction Mechanisms, Design of New Imaging Agents, Chemical Approaches to the Elucidation of Cell Signaling Pathways, the Cellulosome, Catalytic Nanolithography, Biologically-Inspired Small Molecule Synthesis, and Bioorganic Mechanisms of Peptide Antibiotics. 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 chemistry students through existing, intensive research outreach programs in the Department and through utilization of the mass spectrometer in the undergraduate chemistry laboratories.