Fundamental Investigations of Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

这项名为“电喷雾电离质谱的基础研究”的研究是由新奥尔良大学的Richard Cole博士和泽维尔大学（HBCU）的Wang Guangdi博士合作进行的，重点是与电喷雾电离过程相关的基础研究。这项研究将包括在电喷雾探针内部开发一种独特的电化学电池，并将研究氯离子附着提供的电喷雾电离增强。这项研究有三个科学目标。首先，一种新型电化学/电喷雾电池将用于实时研究电化学生成的反应产物和中间体。电池性能将通过与已知的、特性良好的系统的实验结果进行比较来验证。将测试的两种体系包括多芳烃（PAH）与DNA的反应以及儿茶酚胺与亲核试剂的反应。第二个目标是绘制存在于泰勒锥中的电位梯度，这是电喷涂过程的一部分。这项基础研究可能会导致界面设计的改进，这将显著提高毛细管电泳（CE）与液相色谱/质谱（LC/MS）的耦合。第三项研究将详细研究氯离子附着作为一种手段来提高电喷雾LC/MS中形成的负离子的灵敏度和结构信息。这项研究的结果可能会影响电化学科学和质谱学。这项研究将导致对电离过程的更清晰的理解，这可能导致新的仪器和新的分析方法。此外，这项研究合作将大大提高少数民族对分析科学的参与。

The research entitled "Fundamental Investigations of Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry" is a collaboration between Dr. Richard Cole at the University of New Orleans and Dr. Guangdi Wang at Xavier University (an HBCU) and focuses on fundamental studies related to the electrospray ionization process. The study will include the development of a unique electrochemical cell inside of an electrospray probe, and will investigate electrospray ionization enhancements provided by chloride attachment. There are three scientific objectives to this research. First, a novel electrochemical/electrospray cell will be used to study electrochemically generated reaction products and intermediates in real time. The cell performance will be validated by comparison of the experimental results with known, well characterized systems. Two systems which will be tested include the reactions of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) with DNA and catecholamines with nucleophiles. The second goal is to map the potential gradient existing in the Taylor cone formed as part of the electrospray process. This fundamental study could result in improvements to interface design which will significantly enhance capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). The third study will examine, in detail, the use of chloride ion attachment as a means to enhance sensitivity and structural information about negative ions formed in electrospray LC/MS.The results of this study could potentially impact both electrochemical science and mass spectrometry. This research will lead to a clearer understanding of the ionization process which may result in new instrumentation and new analytical procedures. Additionally, this research collaboration will greatly enhance minority participation in the analytical sciences.