Mass spectral techniques such as Electron Impact (EI), Fast Atom Bombardment (FAB), and Chemical Ionization (CI) are used to probe intimate structural details and to obtain molecular compositions of a vast array of organic, bioorganic and organometallic compounds. Access to instrumentation capable of carrying out these state-of-the-art techniques is essential for the prosecution of frontier research in several fields of chemistry. The Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida will use this award from the Chemical Instrumentation Program to help acquire a mass spectrometer. The areas of chemical research that will be enhanced by the acquisition include the following: 1) Carbene complexes from rearrangement of transition metal sigma complexes and strained allenes: free and complexed to transition metals 2) Kinetic and stereochemical effects of fluorine substituents in thermal homolytic and pericyclic reactions 3) Heterocyclic cations, benzotriazole chemistry, thermolysis of organics, and polyvalent iodine derivatives 4) Synthetic studies of the ene reaction and samarium diiodide mediated reactions 5) Electrochemistry and mass spectrometry in the study of metabolic redox reactions mechanisms 6) Gas-phase reactions of metal complexes and monoclonal antibodies elicited against metal complexes.
