GC-, LC-, and TLC-MS for the analysis of (bio)organic samples and the in-situ characterization of functional thin films

温莎大学化学与生物化学系和生物医学系的研究团队包括合成化学家、材料科学家、癌症研究人员和结构生物学家。这个高度跨学科的团队在各种学科进行研究，从研究蛋白质功能如何调节;制造下一代自我修复电子产品;产生新的液晶;设计和合成新的抗癌，抗微生物和抗自身免疫药物;创新新的催化剂，将温室气体转化为有用的化学品;开发新的方法来制造化学键;确定新药的代谢命运;设计新的生物医学探针来研究生物过程。这些应用的共同点是需要识别复杂样品中存在的特定化学品。目前最好的方法是将色谱法（根据物理性质分离分子）和质谱法（确定每个分离部分中存在哪些分子）结合起来。温莎大学的团队最近退役了我们的旧气相色谱-质谱仪（GC-MS），没有它，我们的创新研究受到影响，我们的学生没有接受最现代的培训，为毕业后的就业做好准备。这项资助要求新的GC-MS具有额外的功能，如顶空采样器，使我们能够识别和量化样品上方的气体，或直接测量气体。这对于与我们的温室合作伙伴合作非常有用，他们希望更好地了解植物相互发送的化学信号。我们还要求将新的MS连接到已经到位的液相色谱仪（LC-MS）上。该团队制造的许多分子沸点太高，无法通过气相色谱法进行分析，LC-MS将使我们能够有效地研究它们。我们还要求一个最先进的附件，使我们能够直接从固体表面取样化合物。该装置的设计使得薄层色谱板（TLC）可以直接采样到质谱仪（TLC-MS）中。TLC是化学家监测反应的标准方法，因为不同的化合物以不同的速度在板上移动。然而，如果没有费力的进一步分析，就不能确定TLC板上的哪个点对应于哪个化合物。TLC-MS使我们能够直接确定哪种化合物对应于哪种斑点，而无需对每种材料进行昂贵的放大和纯化。该团队将使用它对其他固体样品进行采样，如细胞培养物，组织样品，抗菌材料薄膜和有机半导体，以确保处理不会改变化学性质。使用该仪器套件的学生将接受最新分析技术的培训，为他们的职业生涯做好准备，同时也推进创新研究并促进当地工业的目标。

The research team in the Departments of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at the University Windsor includes synthetic chemists, materials scientists, cancer researchers, and structural biologists. This highly interdisciplinary team carries out research in wide variety of disciplines from studying how protein-function is regulated; making next-generation self-healing electronics; generating new liquid crystals; designing and synthesizing new anti-cancer, anti-microbial, and anti-autoimmune drugs; innovating new catalysts to turn greenhouse gases into useful chemicals; developing new ways to make chemical bonds; determining the metabolic fate of new drugs; and designing new biomedical probes to study biological processes. What these applications have in common is the need to identify specific chemicals present in complex samples. The best current way to do this involves a combination of chromatography (separating molecules based on physical properties) and mass spectrometry (identifying what molecules are present in each separated fraction). The team at the University of Windsor recently decommissioned our older gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and without it, our innovative research suffers, and our students do not receive the most modern training to prepare them for employment post-graduation. This grant requests a new GC-MS with added features like a headspace-sampler that allows us to identify and quantify the gases above a sample, or to measure gases directly. This is very useful for working with our greenhouse partners who want to better understand the chemical signals that plants send to each other. We are also requesting a new MS to be attached to a liquid chromatography instrument already in place (LC-MS). Many of the molecules made by the team have too high a boiling point to be analyzed by gas chromatography, and the LC-MS will let us study them efficiently. We are also requesting a state-of-the-art attachment that will allow us to sample compounds directly from a solid surface. This device was designed so that thin layer chromatography plates (TLC) could be sampled directly into a mass spectrometer (TLC-MS). TLC is the standard way that chemists monitor reactions as different compounds move across the plate at different rates. However, without laborious further analysis one cannot determine which spot on the TLC plate corresponds to which compound. TLC-MS allows us to determine which compound corresponds to which spot directly without requiring costly scale-up and purification of each material. The team will use this to sample other solid samples like cell cultures, tissue samples, thin films of antibacterial material, and organic semiconductors to ensure that processing did not change the chemistry. Students using this instrument suite will be trained in the latest in analytical technology preparing them for their careers while also advancing innovative research and facilitating the goals of local industry.