The Department of Chemistry at Duke University will use this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation Program and the Instrumentation and Instrument Development Program to help acquire a mass spectrometer system. The areas of chemical research that will be enhanced by the acquisition include the following: 1. Free Radical Reactive Intermediates and Free Radical Biology. 2. Synthesis and Analysis of Biologically Important Oligosaccharides. 3. Protonated Base Pairs, Cytosine Deamination, and Cross- Strand Mutagenesis. 4. Boron Containing Nucleosides and Nucleotides. 5. Molecular Metaphors and Enzyme Inhibitors. 6. Biodegradation of Environmental Contaminants Using White Rock Fungus. 7. Identification of the Toxic Metabolites Formed from Environmental Contaminants. 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. When combined with a gas chromatograph, the resulting system affords the chemist one of the most powerful tools available for the separation and characterization of compounds. The acquisition of a mass spectrometer is essential for the prosecution of frontier research in many fields in chemistry.
