MRI: Acquisition of instrumentation to advance our understanding of environmental processes through characterization of the organic compounds in different environmental reservoirs

MRI：购买仪器，通过表征不同环境库中的有机化合物来加深我们对环境过程的理解

• 批准号: 1531350
• 负责人: Lihini Aluwihare
• 金额: $ 33.31万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego Scripps Inst of Oceanography
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1531350&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; instrumentation; advance; our

This project will purchase an off-the-shelf instrument that has an unprecedented capability to separate individual molecules found in complex matrices and more precisely access their composition (through accurate measurement of mass). The environmental matrices that will be studied in this research and the innovative sample processing methods that will be employed to reduce the natural complexity of relevant samples represents a novel application of this instrument. Examples of new knowledge that will be created include a better understanding of how contaminants are transformed in the environment, how microscopic organisms regulate bloom dynamics through communication, and how known biochemicals are transformed into molecules that can be preserved on long timescales, thus contributing to the production of oxygen and the sequestration of carbon dioxide. Such a molecular-level understanding of these processes is essential for determining the environmental factors that regulate them and how these processes may respond in the future. The data produced with this instrument will be publically available as a mass spectral library that will be of use to other fields including drug discovery, petroleum research, and metabolomics. In addition, several graduate students and post doctoral researchers will receive hands-on access to this instrument, providing valuable training that will prepare them well for careers in both academia and industry.This project will acquire a comprehensive gas chromatograph (GC×GC) coupled to a Pegasus HRT (High Resolution TOF) Mass Spectrometer (MS), which will be initially utilized to examine the diversity of organic molecules accumulating in aquatic environments and also to identify degradation products of chemical contaminants accumulating in various environment matrices. Organic geochemistry and environmental chemistry necessarily deals with complex matrices where thousands to millions of compounds derived from various sources, acted upon by abiotic and biotic processes, accumulate on short to millennial (and beyond) timescales. Chemical structures of these compounds carry critical information regarding source, mechanisms of transformation and residence time. Access to advanced analytical instrumentation continues to increase access to such information. Comprehensive gas chromatography, together with advanced mass deconvolution afforded by the high scan rates of the identified instrument (200 full mass range mass spectra per second) enables unprecedented ?separation? of complex mixtures of organic molecules. Additionally, the sub-ppm mass accuracy greatly enhances the likelihood of unknown compound identification. Together these two features make this instrument unique. Knowledge about the processes that shape the chemical composition of various environmental reservoirs will scale with the extent to which these complex samples can be chemically described. As such, there is a significant reward associated with comprehensively characterizing the chemical composition of such samples.

该项目将购买一种现成的仪器，该工具具有前所未有的能力，可以分离复杂物品中发现的单个分子，并更精确地访问其组成（通过准确的质量测量）。这项研究中将研究的环境材料以及将采用的创新样品处理方法来降低相关样品的自然复杂性，这代表了该仪器的新应用。将创建的新知识的例子包括更好地理解污染物在环境中如何转化的污染物，微观生物如何通过通信调节布鲁姆动力学，以及如何将已知的生化物转化为可以在长时间尺度上保存的分子，从而有助于氧气的产生和碳二氧化物的序列。对这些过程的这种分子水平的理解对于确定调节它们的环境因素以及这些过程将来如何响应至关重要。该仪器生产的数据将作为质谱库公开提供，该图书馆将用于其他领域，包括药物发现，石油研究和代谢组学。此外，几位研究生和博士研究人员将获得动手访问该乐器，提供有价值的培训，为学术界和行业的职业做好准备。水生环境，还可以确定在各种环境中积累的化学污染物的降解产物。有机地球化学和环境化学必定会处理复杂的物质，在这些物质中，有数千至数百万的化合物来自各种来源，这些化合物由非生物和生物过程作用，在短到千禧一代（及以后）的时间表上积累。这些化合物的化学结构具有有关来源，转化机制和停留时间的关键信息。访问高级分析仪器将继续增加对此类信息的访问。全面的气相色谱法以及高级质量反卷积，由已确定的仪器的高扫描速率（每秒200个全质量质量光谱）带来了前所未有的分离？有机分子的复杂混合物。此外，子PPM质量精度大大提高了未知化合物识别的可能性。这两个功能共同使该乐器与众不同。关于塑造各种环境储层化学组成的过程的知识，将在化学上描述这些复杂样品的程度。因此，与全面表征此类样品的化学成分有关。