MRI: Acquisition of a Hybrid Quadrupole Orbitrap LC/MS System to Facilitate Trace Quantitation and Complex Mixture Analyses at the University of Alaska Anchorage

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This award is supported by the Major Research Instrumentation, the Chemistry Research Instrumentation programs and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The University of Alaska-Anchorage is acquiring a high-performance benchtop quadrupole system that combines a quadrupole, an ion routing multipole and an Orbitrap analyzer and a liquid to support Professor Patrick Tomco, Jason Burkhead, Aaron Dotson, Colin McGill, and other colleagues. In general, mass spectrometry (MS) is one of the key analytical methods used to identify and characterize small quantities of chemical species in complex samples. An instrument with a liquid chromatograph can separate mixtures of compounds before they reach the mass spectrometer. In a quadrupole mass spectrometer, there are four cylindrical rods parallel to each other, that serve as the mass analyzer (the component of the instrument responsible for selecting sample ions based on their mass-to-charge ratio (m/z)). Ions are separated in a quadrupole based on the stability of their trajectories in oscillating electric fields that are applied to the rods. In this instrument, this capability is coupled to an ion trap mass analyzer consisting of an outer barrel-like electrode and a coaxial inner spindle-like electrode that traps ions in an orbital motion around the spindle. The image from the trapped ions is detected and converted to a mass spectrum using the Fourier transform of the frequency signal. The acquisition strengthens the research infrastructure at the university and regional area. The instrument broadens participation by involving diverse students with this modern analytical technique. It is also used in outreach activities involving the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF) and the University of Alaska-Southeast (UAS) as well as agencies such as the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and the Alaska State Crime Lab and collaborators from the University of New Orleans.The award of this mass spectrometer is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels across the University of Alaska system. It especially impacts understanding the fate of the insecticide rotenone isoflavone in the changing climate of southcentral Alaska. The instrumentation is also used for exploring environmental oil spill damage mitigation in the Artic and Sub-artic and for the study of metabolomics. In addition, it contributes to the analysis of the impact of climate change on plant-herbivore dynamics in the Artic and Boreal ecoregions, and the study of medicinal properties of Alaskan botanicals. The mass spectrometer is also used to understand essential amino acid metabolism in the microbiomes of hibernatic Artic ground squirrels using 15-nitrogen-labeled nitrogen sources.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.