RAPID/MRI: Acquisition of a Triple-Quad Mass Spectrometer for Quantitative Identification of Dispersants and Water-Soluble Oil in the Gulf of Mexico

PI请求MRI RAPID资助，以购买一台用于定量识别墨西哥湾分散剂和水溶性油的三重质谱仪。分散剂被用于海底的泄漏。使用PI的傅里叶变换离子回旋共振（FT）质谱仪的初步结果表明，有可能确定在墨西哥湾研究巡航期间收集的样本中这种分散剂的活性成分。分散剂的成分甚至在海洋表面以下（约1100米）的水下石油羽流中发现。现在PI想要量化这种化合物，以评估其在这种环境中的环境命运。为了量化这些标记化合物，需要设计用于灵敏且准确量化目标化合物的质谱仪。PI已确定三重四极杆质谱仪（三重Q-MS）是满足其需求的最合适仪器。在EPA的帮助下，PI现在已经准备好了适当的方法，并在同事实验室的三重Q-MS上运行样品。三重Q-MS的灵敏度和定量准确性的提高将使他们能够在较低浓度下量化分散剂组分和其他目标化合物，从而为其他研究小组正在进行的建模和预测工作提供重要的约束。这项研究有可能提供有关石油和分散剂成分与墨西哥湾现存的生物、化学和物理过程相互作用时的环境命运的前所未有的数据。除了墨西哥湾漏油事件的迫切需要之外，提案中所述方法的发展不仅将广泛应用于漏油研究，而且还将广泛应用于海洋有机物的特性及其与生物、化学和物理过程的相互作用。该仪器将在与快速供资机制的意图一致的时间框架内用于海湾石油泄漏相关研究。

The PI's request MRI RAPID funding to acquire a triple-quad Mass Spectrometer for quantitative identification of dispersants and water-soluble oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Dispersants were applied to the leak at the bottom of the ocean. Preliminary results using the PI's Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT) mass spectrometer show that is possible identify the active ingredient of this dispersant in samples collected during research cruises in the Gulf of Mexico. Components of the dispersant have even been found in samples taken from within the underwater oil plume deep below the ocean's surface (~1100 m). Now the PI's would like to quantify this compound in order to assess its environmental fate in this environment. In order to quantify these marker compounds, a mass spectrometer designed for sensitive and accurate quantification of targeted compounds is required. The PI's have identified a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer (triple-Q-MS) as the most appropriate instrument for their needs. With the help of the EPA, the PI's now have the appropriate method ready and have been running samples on a triple-Q-MS in a colleague's lab. The increased sensitivity and quantitative accuracy of the triple-Q-MS will allow them to quantify dispersant components and other target compounds at lower concentrations, thus providing important constraints on modeling and predictive efforts underway in other research groups. Broader Impacts This research has the potential to provided unprecedented data on the environmental fate of both petroleum and dispersant components as they interact with the extant biological, chemical, and physical processes of the Gulf of Mexico. Beyond the immediate needs of the Gulf oil spill the development of the methods described in the proposal will have broad applications not only in oil spill research but also in marine organic matter characterization and its interactions with biological, chemical and physical processes. The instrument will be available for Gulf oil spill related research in a timeframe consistent with the intent of the RAPID funding mechanism.