Urgent replacement of a 23 year old Gas Chromatograph coupled with an Electron Capture Detector to analyze glyphosate and its main metabolite in the environment

紧急更换一台已使用 23 年的气相色谱仪，并配有电子捕获检测器，用于分析环境中的草甘膦及其主要代谢物

• 批准号: RTI-2022-00079
• 负责人: Lucotte, MarcMichel
• 金额: $ 5.13万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=743024
• 关键词: Urgent; replacement; 23; year; old

The massive usage of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) in field crops, such as Roundupr, is of much concern regarding its impact on the environment and human health. Glyphosate and AMPA, its even more toxic main metabolite, have been widely reported in aquatic environments. However, knowledge about the retention of these two compounds in agricultural soils and their impact on field crops quality, soil functions and response of microbial communities after the application of GBH under various cropping systems is scarce mostly because of analytical limitations in complex matrixes. Our team has refined a robust analytical procedure to measure glyphosate and AMPA in all environmental compartments using a Gas Chromatograph equipped with an Electron Capture Detector (GC-ECD). Due to its high sensitivity, an ECD is the first choice to measure halogenated compounds in the environment. Based on this unique expertise, our team is presently running or has applied for several ambitious projects (NSERC Strategic Partnership, NSERC Discovery, MITACS, Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Environment Canada emerging contaminant). All mentioned ongoing projects converge towards finding solutions for a transition towards sustainability of field crops systems. The present proposal aims at replacing a 23-year-old GC-ECD in order to be able to continue perform crucial analyses of glyphosate and AMPA within ongoing and applied for projects. Because of recurrent technical problems induced by the obsolescence of the equipment we currently use, both the number of samples we can analyze daily (n=10) and the number of days per week the equipment is functional (an average of 2.5 days a week) are limited. This situation forces our team to limit the number of enrolled graduate students and turn down new collaborations. We thus propose to purchase a new GC-ECD-TCD with state-of-the art advanced electronic pneumatic control (EPC) modules and high-performance oven temperature control allowing optimal chromatography including peak symmetry, retention time repeatability and retention index accuracy. The new GC also has advanced built-in capabilities to monitor system resources and maintenance alerts helping to identify eventual problems faster. The very high level of sensitivity of the ECD should improve the limits of detection for both glyphosate and AMPA allowing us to extend our knowledge of herbicide contamination in the environment as well as develop new analytical methods. Finally, the new equipment will allow students to acquire cutting edge training applicable to multiple environmental issues. This type of specialized expertise is much sought after for getting employed by environmental consulting firms or pharmaceutical companies as well as for filling academic position.

在大田作物中大量使用草甘膦除草剂（GBH），例如农达，其对环境和人类健康的影响备受关注。草甘膦和 AMPA（其毒性更大的主要代谢物）已在水生环境中广泛报道。然而，由于复杂基质的分析限制，关于这两种化合物在农业土壤中的保留及其在各种种植系统下施用 GBH 后对大田作物质量、土壤功能和微生物群落反应的影响的知识很少。我们的团队改进了强大的分析程序，使用配备电子捕获检测器 (GC-ECD) 的气相色谱仪测量所有环境隔室中的草甘膦和 AMPA。由于其高灵敏度，ECD 是测量环境中卤化化合物的首选。基于这种独特的专业知识，我们的团队目前正在运行或已经申请了多个雄心勃勃的项目（NSERC 战略合作伙伴关系、NSERC Discovery、MITACS、魁北克农业部、加拿大环境部新兴污染物）。所有提到的正在进行的项目都致力于寻找大田作物系统向可持续性过渡的解决方案。目前的提案旨在更换已有 23 年历史的 GC-ECD，以便能够在正在进行的和已申请的项目中继续对草甘膦和 AMPA 进行关键分析。由于我们目前使用的设备陈旧而导致技术问题反复出现，我们每天可以分析的样本数量（n=10）和每周设备正常运行的天数（平均每周2.5天）都受到影响。是有限的。这种情况迫使我们的团队限制注册研究生的数量并拒绝新的合作。因此，我们建议购买具有最先进的先进电子气动控制 (EPC) 模块和高性能柱箱温度控制的新型 GC-ECD-TCD，从而实现最佳色谱分析，包括峰对称性、保留时间重复性和保留指数准确性。新的 GC 还具有先进的内置功能，可监控系统资源和维护警报，帮助更快地识别最终问题。 ECD 的极高灵敏度应能提高草甘膦和 AMPA 的检测限，使我们能够扩展对环境中除草剂污染的了解并开发新的分析方法。最后，新设备将使学生能够获得适用于多种环境问题的尖端培训。这种类型的专业知识在环境咨询公司或制药公司就业以及填补学术职位方面广受追捧。