Atmospheric Pressure Gas Chromatograph and Ultra-Cold Freezer to Support an Existing Ion Mobility Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer

质谱学技术对于确定特定的分子结构和定量特定的化合物是至关重要的。Ken Stark博士最近在滑铁卢大学质谱仪(UWMSF)上增加了一台超高性能液相色谱仪(UHLPC)离子迁移率四极杆飞行时间质谱仪(IM-QTOF)。这种仪器由于具有高分辨率和准确的质量以及额外的离子迁移率分离而具有高灵敏度。通过超高效液相色谱，该仪器被设计用于发现相对稳定的化合物的脂组、蛋白质组和代谢组学研究。该仪器配有大气压电离和气相色谱仪(APGC)组件，可在前端APGC和UHPLC之间快速切换。APGC的加入将使IM-QTOF能够用于更广泛范围的化合物分析。具体地说，APGC是引入挥发物和非极性化合物(如脂肪酸和各种环境污染物)的理想选择，这些物质可能会对UHPLC造成问题。APGC还利用“软”电离，保留了化合物的结构，以允许超痕量定量，这在UWMSF目前的基础设施下是困难的。该仪器还将使滑铁卢的其他几名研究人员的研究计划成为可能，因为他们将能够使用IM-QTOF来检查其研究计划核心的小型挥发性化合物。这笔赠款还包括一项关于超冷冰箱的申请。仪器设备的增加和使用者的增加要求在分析之前储存样品，特别是生物样品。为了保持样品和目标分析物的完整性，有必要使用超冷冷冻机。

Mass spectrometry techniques are critical to identify specific molecular structures and to quantitate specific compounds. Dr. Ken Stark has recently added an ultra-high performance liquid chromatograph (UHLPC) Ion Mobility Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (IM-QTOF) to the University of Waterloo Mass Spectrometry Facility (UWMSF). This instrument set up is capable of high sensitivity due to high resolution and accurate mass along with additional ion mobility separations. With UHPLC, this instrument is well designed for discovery lipidomic, proteomic and metabolomic research of relatively stable compounds. An atmospheric pressure ionization and gas chromatograph (APGC) package is available for this instrument that allows for rapid switching between front-end APGC and UHPLC. The addition of APGC would allow the IM-QTOF to be used for the analysis of a much broader range of compounds. Specifically, APGC is ideal for the introduction of volatiles and non-polar compounds such as fatty acids and various environmental contaminants, that can be problematic for UHPLC. The APGC also utilizes “soft” ionization which preserves the structure of the compound to allow for ultra-trace quantitation which is currently difficult with the current infrastructure in the UWMSF. This instrument would also enable the research programs of several other researchers at Waterloo, as they would be able to use the IM-QTOF to examine small volatile compounds at the core of their research programs. This grant also includes a request for an ultra-cold freezer. The increase in instrumentation and increased users requires that samples, especially biological samples be stored prior to analyses. Ultra-cold freezers are necessary to maintain the integrity of the samples and the target analytes.