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

质谱技术是鉴定特定分子结构和定量特定化合物的关键。Ken Stark博士最近为滑铁卢大学质谱分析设施（UWMSF）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）。由于高分辨率和精确的质量以及额外的离子迁移率分离，该仪器装置具有高灵敏度。该仪器具有高效液相色谱，适用于相对稳定化合物的脂质组学、蛋白质组学和代谢组学研究。大气压电离和气相色谱仪（APGC）包可用于该仪器，允许在前端APGC和UHPLC之间快速切换。APGC的加入将允许IM-QTOF用于分析更广泛的化合物。具体来说，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，这可能会给UHPLC带来问题。APGC还利用“软”电离来保持化合物的结构，从而实现超痕量定量，这在UWMSF目前的基础设施中是很困难的。这台仪器也将使滑铁卢大学其他几位研究人员的研究项目成为可能，因为他们将能够使用IM-QTOF来检查他们研究项目核心的小挥发性化合物。这笔赠款还包括一项购买超低温冷冻机的要求。仪器的增加和用户的增加要求样品，特别是生物样品在分析之前储存。为了保持样品和目标分析物的完整性，超低温冷冻机是必要的。

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.