Mass Spectrometry continues to be among the most important structural and analytical tools in organic and bioorganic chemistry. A group of six investigators in the Brown University Department of Chemistry is seeking funds to modernize and upgrade the computer systems of the Departmental mass spectrometry facilities, a Kratos MS-80 high resolution magnetic sector GC-mass spectrometer and a Hewlett Packard 5988A quadrupole GC-MS. The Eclipse 5/120 computer currently used to control the Kratos instrument will be replaced by a Kratos MACH 3 DART System running on a UNIX-based Sun SPARCStation LX graphics workstation. The MS Chemstation on the Hewlett Packard instrument will be replaced by a DOS-based 486- class MS Chemstation and MS software package. These changes will maintain the effectiveness of our existing system by the replacement of obsolete computer hardware and software, simplify the operation of the Kratos instrument through the introduction of user-friendly, multitasking software, and greatly extend the versatility and usefulness of each instrument by allowing remote access to mass spectrometric data and software over the existing Departmental Ethernet backbone. The externally funded research programs depending on access to state-of-the-art mass spectrometric facilities and data network include investigations of natural products biosynthesis and enzyme reaction mechanisms (Professor David E. Cane), natural product synthesis and synthetic methodology (Professor Kathlyn A. Parker), investigations of the structure of reactive metalo-organic aggregates (Professor Paul G. Williard), studies of organometallic methodology (Professor Dwight A. Sweigart), studies of photochemistry and photoinduced electron transfer (Professor Matthew B. Zimmt), and bioorganic studies of in vitro peptide formation and investigations of the enzymatic formation of taxol (Prof. John S. Oliver.)
