MRI: Acquisition of a GC Hybrid Orbitrap High Resolution Tandem Mass Spectrometer for Environmental Science

该项目将获得一台最先进的质谱仪，帮助识别环境样本中的未知化学污染物和混合化学物质，如空气、土壤和个人暴露监测器。该仪器将被安置在杜克环境展示组学中心。这种设备将作为校园内几个系的研究人员和学生以及北卡罗来纳州中部地区的研究人员的资源。研究人员将能够将样品提交给设施经理，后者将使用质谱仪以比以前更高的准确度和置信度来识别样品中的未知化学物质。该仪器还将用于开发一门新课程，以加强环境和分析化学的研究生教育。本课程将教授学生如何使用质谱仪产生的数据来询问化学结构数据库，以对化学物质进行积极识别，并了解更多关于它们的来源、生产量和在环境中的命运。购买一台高分辨率质谱仪将支持北卡罗来纳州中部研究人员正在研究的环境中未知挥发性和半挥发性有机化合物复杂混合物的结构阐明。该仪器的使用将大大推进对环境样品中复杂混合物中化学污染物的去向、传输和转化的研究调查，这些研究是校园内几个研究中心的重点，包括杜克环境展示组学中心、杜克超级基金研究中心和纳米技术的环境影响中心。本提案中概述的研究项目都侧重于确定环境样本中未知或以前未确定的污染物的复杂混合物，这一直是推进对周围环境中化学污染物的研究的障碍。该仪器的主要使用者将进行研究，不仅要调查与环境有关的混合物的暴露情况，还要研究改进和设计传感器以检测低水平的污染物，并开发补救工具和技术，以减少与这些污染物相关的生态风险。这样的高性能质谱仪很少能直接在学术环境中获得，收购这台仪器将使杜克大学成为美国东南部地区唯一为环境科学研究提供这种支持的机构。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is to acquire a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer that will help identify unknown chemicals pollutants and mixtures of chemicals in environmental samples, such as air, soil and personal exposure monitors. The instrument will be housed in the Duke Center for Environmental Exposomics. This equipment will serve as a resource to researchers and students spanning several departments on campus as well as for researchers within the central North Carolina region. Researchers will be able to submit samples to the facility manager, who will use the mass spectrometer to identify unknown chemicals in the samples with greater accuracy and confidence than has previously been available. The instrument will also be used to develop a new course to enhance graduate education in environmental and analytical chemistry. The course will teach students how to interrogate chemical structure databases using data generated by the mass spectrometer to make positive identification of chemicals, and to learn more about their sources, production volumes and fate in the environment. Acquisition of a high-resolution mass spectrometer will support structural elucidation of complex mixtures of unknown volatile and semi-volatile organic chemicals in the environment under study by researchers in central North Carolina. Access to this instrument will significantly advance research investigations on the fate, transport, and transformation of chemical pollutants found in complex mixtures in environmental samples that are the focus of several research centers on campus, including the Duke Center for Environmental Exposomics, the Duke Superfund Research Center, and the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology. The research projects outlined within this proposal share a focus on identifying complex mixtures of unknown or previously unidentified contaminants in environmental samples, which has been an obstacle to advancing research on chemical contaminants in the ambient environment. Major users of this instrument will engage in research to investigate not only exposure of environmentally relevant mixtures, but also research to improve and design sensors to detect contaminants at low levels and develop remediation tools and techniques to reduce the ecological risks associated with these contaminants. Seldom have such high-performance mass spectrometers been directly available in an academic setting, and acquisition of this instrument would enable Duke to become the only institution within the U.S. southeastern region to offer this support for environmental science research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.