You are here
A NOVEL MASS SPECTROMETER FOR DIRECT MIXTURE ANALYSIS.
Title: Principal Research Scientist
Phone: (505) 984-1322
THE COMBINATION OF GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH MASS SPECTROMETRY(GC/MS) PROVIDES THE BEST GENERAL PURPOSE ANALYTICAL INSTRUMENT FOR SENSITIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPLEX MIXTURES. IT IS USED IN THE FIELDS OF CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY, GEOCHEMISTRY, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND FORENSICS. IN MOST CASES, THE GAS CHROMATOGRAPH SEPARATES THE STARTING MIXTURE INTO ITS CONSTITUENT COMPOUNDS PRIOR TO ANALYSIS BY THE MASSSPECTROMETER. THE SEPARATION STEP IS THE MOST TIME-CONSUMING PORTION OF THE ANALYSIS, OFTEN TAKING NEARLY AN HOUR, WHILE MASS ANALYSIS FOR EACH ELUTED COMPOUND IS COMPLETE IN A SECOND OR LESS. OUR INNOVATION PROVIDES A METHOD FOR THE DIRECT MASS SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF MIXTURES (U.S. PATENT #5,015,848) AND CAN SPEED OVERALL ANALYSIS TIME BY REDUCING THE DEGREE OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC SEPARATION NEEDED. WE USE A NOVEL IONIZATION MODULATION SCHEME THAT INCREASES THE AMOUNT OF CHEMICALLY USEFUL INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM A MASS SPECTROMETER. THE SYSTEM IS AUTOMATED AND SUPPORTS COMPUTERIZED DECONVOLUTION OF THE RESULTANT TWO-DIMENSIONAL SPECTRA. THE PHASE I PROGRAM ADDRESSES OPTIMIZATION OF THE INSTRUMENTDESIGN BY MAXIMIZING THE DATA ACQUISITION RATE (WHILE MAINTAINING GOOD SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIOS OVER A LARGE DYNAMIC RANGE), DETERMINING THE LIMITS TO SENSITIVITY, DETERMINING THE OPTIMUM ELECTRON ENERGY RESOLUTION AND SELECTING THE BEST ALGORITHM FOR COMPUTERIZED DATA REDUCTION.
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *