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，该仪器具有前所未有的能力来分离复杂基质中的单个分子，并更精确地获取其组成（通过精确测量质量）。将用于降低相关样品的自然复杂性的创新样品处理方法代表了该仪器的新颖应用，其中包括更好地了解污染物在环境中如何转化、微生物如何调节水华。通过沟通的动态，以及如何知道生化物质转化为可以长期保存的分子，从而有助于产生氧气和封存二氧化碳，对这些过程的分子水平理解对于确定调节它们的环境因素以及如何调节这些过程至关重要。该仪器产生的数据将作为质谱库公开，可用于药物发现、石油研究和代谢组学等其他领域。此外，一些研究生和博士后研究人员也将使用该数据库。收到动手操作该仪器，提供宝贵的培训，为他们在学术界和工业界的职业生涯做好准备。该项目将购买一台综合气相色谱仪 (GC×GC) 以及 Pegasus HRT（高分辨率 TOF）质谱仪（ MS），最初将用于检查水生环境中积累的有机分子的多样性，并识别各种环境基质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然涉及复杂的问题。基质中来自不同来源的数千至数百万种衍生化合物，在短至千年（甚至更长）的时间尺度上积累，这些化合物的化学结构携带着有关来源、转化机制和停留时间的关键信息。先进的分析仪器不断增加对此类信息的获取，再加上所识别仪器的高扫描速率（每秒 200 个全质量范围质谱）所提供的先进质量解卷积，可以实现前所未有的效果。此外，亚 ppm 的质量精度大大提高了未知化合物识别的可能性，这使得该仪器能够了解各种环境储存库的化学成分。因此，全面表征此类样品的化学成分会带来巨大的回报。