RAPID/MRI: Acquisition of a Triple-Quad Mass Spectrometer for Quantitative Identification of Dispersants and Water-Soluble Oil in the Gulf of Mexico

PI要求快速提供核磁共振资金，以获得一台三重四级质谱计，用于定量识别墨西哥湾的分散剂和水溶性石油。在海底的泄漏处涂上了分散剂。使用PI的傅里叶变换离子回旋共振(FT)质谱仪的初步结果表明，有可能在墨西哥湾研究巡航期间收集的样品中识别这种分散剂的活性成分。甚至在海洋表面深处(约1100米)水下油柱内的样本中也发现了分散剂的成分。现在，少年派想要量化这种化合物，以便评估它在这种环境中的环境命运。为了对这些标记化合物进行定量，需要设计一台用于灵敏和准确地对目标化合物进行定量的质谱仪。PI‘s已经确定三重四极质谱计(Triple-Q-MS)是最适合他们需要的仪器。在环保局的帮助下，PI现在已经准备好了适当的方法，并一直在同事实验室的三重质谱仪上运行样品。三重Q-MS的灵敏度和定量准确度的提高将使它们能够在较低浓度下对分散剂成分和其他目标化合物进行定量，从而为其他研究小组正在进行的建模和预测工作提供重要的约束。更广泛的影响这项研究有可能就石油和分散剂成分与墨西哥湾现有的生物、化学和物理过程相互作用时的环境命运提供前所未有的数据。除了墨西哥湾漏油事件的迫切需要外，提案中所述方法的发展不仅将广泛应用于漏油研究，而且还将广泛应用于海洋有机质的表征及其与生物、化学和物理过程的相互作用。该仪器将在与快速筹资机制的意图一致的时间框架内用于与海湾漏油有关的研究。

The PI's request MRI RAPID funding to acquire a triple-quad Mass Spectrometer for quantitative identification of dispersants and water-soluble oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Dispersants were applied to the leak at the bottom of the ocean. Preliminary results using the PI's Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT) mass spectrometer show that is possible identify the active ingredient of this dispersant in samples collected during research cruises in the Gulf of Mexico. Components of the dispersant have even been found in samples taken from within the underwater oil plume deep below the ocean's surface (~1100 m). Now the PI's would like to quantify this compound in order to assess its environmental fate in this environment. In order to quantify these marker compounds, a mass spectrometer designed for sensitive and accurate quantification of targeted compounds is required. The PI's have identified a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer (triple-Q-MS) as the most appropriate instrument for their needs. With the help of the EPA, the PI's now have the appropriate method ready and have been running samples on a triple-Q-MS in a colleague's lab. The increased sensitivity and quantitative accuracy of the triple-Q-MS will allow them to quantify dispersant components and other target compounds at lower concentrations, thus providing important constraints on modeling and predictive efforts underway in other research groups. Broader Impacts This research has the potential to provided unprecedented data on the environmental fate of both petroleum and dispersant components as they interact with the extant biological, chemical, and physical processes of the Gulf of Mexico. Beyond the immediate needs of the Gulf oil spill the development of the methods described in the proposal will have broad applications not only in oil spill research but also in marine organic matter characterization and its interactions with biological, chemical and physical processes. The instrument will be available for Gulf oil spill related research in a timeframe consistent with the intent of the RAPID funding mechanism.