A liquid injection field desorption ionization source for the mass spectrometric analysis of non-polar, air-sensitive compounds

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Mass spectrometry is a highly sensitive technique that enables the rapid analysis of complex mixtures. All sorts of molecules can be analysed, from volatile organic compounds to massive biomolecules. However, there are some classes of compound that are resistant to analysis because they may be non-polar and: (a) of high molecular weight; (b) paramagnetic; (c) highly air- and moisture-sensitive. Conventional ionization techniques serve these classes of compound poorly, and four researchers at UVic seek to address this weakness by purchasing Canada's first Liquid Introduction Field Desorption Ionization (LIFDI) source. This new technology transforms a practically obsolete, experimentally inconvenient technique (FDI) into a fast, modern means of analyzing materials and providing molecular weight and compositional information on compounds that have proved resistant to other means of characterization. As such, all four applicants expect to be able to not only greatly facilitate and expand their current research but also to rapidly break new ground unexplored by them and others in areas as diverse as direct analysis of complex biodiesel mixtures, characterization of polysilane oligomers and paramagnetic lanthanide complexes, and the determination of the molecular structure of metal complexes of stable radicals.