CAS: Sustainable Analytical Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for Biological Compounds

在化学系化学测量和成像计划的支持下，俄亥俄州立大学的Susan Olesik教授和她的团队正在努力提高强大的分析方法的能力，这些方法结合了分离复杂混合物(使用层析)和检测这些混合物中的组分(使用质谱分析)。具体地说，他们寻求通过在用于分离的溶剂中添加液化二氧化碳来改善这两种元素的性能。Olesik小组从事的基础研究不仅旨在提高性能，而且还旨在减少分析所需的样品和溶剂的数量。所获得的洞察力应该能够在广泛的领域获得新的能力，例如环境和生物医学研究。参与该项目的研究生和本科生获得了最先进的技能，这将为他们从事STEM职业做好准备。为了更好地让公众了解可持续发展的重要性，正在开发在线演示文稿，向非理科本科生介绍溶剂的性质、用途和可持续发展。这些介绍突出了溶剂的广泛公众使用以及相关的环境、健康和安全风险。人们的期望是，更好和更广泛地了解这些风险可以减少它们的影响。Olesik小组正在使用从生物质(例如水-甲醇-二氧化碳)中产生的可生物降解的增强流动性流动相来分离生物相关化合物并进行质谱分析。这些流动相将产生更高的灵敏度和增强的可持续性。该方法可广泛应用于许多极性化合物的分析。蛋白质被用作模型分析物，因为大量使用色质联用来表征它们，并且需要改进这些化合物的分析性能指标。从具有代表性的蛋白质的电荷状态分布中得到的结论应该为蛋白质在增强流动性的液体中的构象提供证据。通过对相对电离效率和离子内能的研究，有望对使用流动性增强的溶剂混合物时的电喷雾电离过程有机械上的见解。该奖项反映了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。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Susan Olesik and her group at Ohio State University are working to improve the capabilities of powerful analytical methods that combine separation of complex mixtures (using chromatography) and detection of the components in those mixtures (using mass spectrometry). Specifically, they seek to improve the performance of both elements by adding liquefied carbon dioxide to the solvents used for separation. The Olesik group is engaged in fundamental studies aimed not only improving performance, but also reducing the amount of sample and solvent needed for the analysis. The insights gained should enable new capabilities in a broad range of fields, such as environmental and biomedical studies. Graduate and undergraduate students involved in the project gain state-of-the arts skills that will prepare them for STEM careers. To better inform the general public about the importance of sustainability, online presentations are being developed to teach nonscience undergraduates about the properties, use, and sustainability of solvents. The presentations highlight the widespread public uses of solvents and the associated environmental, health and safety risks. The expectation is that better and more widespread understanding of those risks can reduce their impact.The Olesik group is using biodegradable enhanced-fluidity mobile phases generated from biomass (e.g., water-methanol-CO2) for separation and mass spectrometric detection of biologically relevant compounds. These mobile phases will yield both higher sensitivity and enhanced sustainability. The approach can serve a wide range of applications involving analyses of many polar compounds. Proteins are used as model analytes because of the significant use of chromatography-mass spectrometry for their characterization and the need for improved analytical performance metrics for these compounds. Insights from the charge state distributions of representative proteins should provide evidence on the protein conformation while in enhanced-fluidity liquids. Through studies of relative ionization efficiencies and ion internal energies, mechanistic insights on the electrospray ionization process when using enhanced-fluidity solvent mixtures are anticipated.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.