This award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities (CRIF) Program and the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program will enable the Department of Chemistry at The University of California in Berkeley to acquire a Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer equipped with both electrospray and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization. This equipment will enhance research which includes pre-design, synthesis and study of high symmetry supramolecular assemblies, synthesis and study of transition metal cluster compounds, stereochemical differentiation of metal-coordinated oligosaccharides, synthesis and study of heterobimetallic organometallic complexes, analysis of semiconductor nanocrystals and highly charged dendrimers as building blocks for supramolecular structure. Mass spectrometry is a technique used to probe intimate structural details and to obtain the molecular compositions of a vast array of organic, bioorganic, and organometallic molecules. Analysis of the multiply charged multiple metal coordinated biomolecules and polymers to be carried out in these studies requires the high mass, high resolution and high mass accuracy available using the combination of fourier transform ion cyclotron mass spectrometry with electrospray and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization. The acquisition of this capability in mass spectrometry is essential for carrying out frontier research in many fields of chemistry.
