CAS: Sustainable Analytical Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for Biological Compounds

在化学系化学测量和成像项目的支持下，俄亥俄州州立大学的Susan Olesik教授和她的团队正在努力提高强大的分析方法的能力，这些方法将复杂混合物的分离（使用色谱法）和这些混合物中组分的检测（使用质谱法）结合起来。 具体地说，他们试图通过向用于分离的溶剂中加入液化二氧化碳来改善这两种元素的性能。 Olesik集团致力于基础研究，不仅旨在提高性能，还旨在减少分析所需的样品和溶剂量。 所获得的见解应能在环境和生物医学研究等广泛领域产生新的能力。 参与该项目的研究生和本科生获得了最先进的技能，这将为他们的STEM职业做好准备。 为了更好地向公众宣传可持续发展的重要性，正在开发在线演示文稿，向非科学专业的本科生讲授溶剂的性质、用途和可持续性。这些介绍强调了溶剂的广泛公共用途以及相关的环境、健康和安全风险。 Olesik集团正在使用生物质产生的可生物降解的增强流动性移动的相（例如，水-甲醇-CO2）用于生物相关化合物的分离和质谱检测。 这些移动的阶段将产生更高的灵敏度和增强的可持续性。该方法可用于广泛的应用，涉及许多极性化合物的分析。 蛋白质被用作模型分析物，因为显着使用色谱-质谱法进行表征，并需要改善这些化合物的分析性能指标。 从代表性蛋白质的电荷态分布的见解应该提供证据的蛋白质构象，而在增强流动性的液体。通过对相对电离效率和离子内能的研究，预期在使用增强流动性溶剂混合物时，对电喷雾电离过程的机械见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Susan Olesik and her group at Ohio State University are working to improve the capabilities of powerful analytical methods that combine separation of complex mixtures (using chromatography) and detection of the components in those mixtures (using mass spectrometry). Specifically, they seek to improve the performance of both elements by adding liquefied carbon dioxide to the solvents used for separation. The Olesik group is engaged in fundamental studies aimed not only improving performance, but also reducing the amount of sample and solvent needed for the analysis. The insights gained should enable new capabilities in a broad range of fields, such as environmental and biomedical studies. Graduate and undergraduate students involved in the project gain state-of-the arts skills that will prepare them for STEM careers. To better inform the general public about the importance of sustainability, online presentations are being developed to teach nonscience undergraduates about the properties, use, and sustainability of solvents. The presentations highlight the widespread public uses of solvents and the associated environmental, health and safety risks. The expectation is that better and more widespread understanding of those risks can reduce their impact.The Olesik group is using biodegradable enhanced-fluidity mobile phases generated from biomass (e.g., water-methanol-CO2) for separation and mass spectrometric detection of biologically relevant compounds. These mobile phases will yield both higher sensitivity and enhanced sustainability. The approach can serve a wide range of applications involving analyses of many polar compounds. Proteins are used as model analytes because of the significant use of chromatography-mass spectrometry for their characterization and the need for improved analytical performance metrics for these compounds. Insights from the charge state distributions of representative proteins should provide evidence on the protein conformation while in enhanced-fluidity liquids. Through studies of relative ionization efficiencies and ion internal energies, mechanistic insights on the electrospray ionization process when using enhanced-fluidity solvent mixtures are anticipated.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.