This project, supported in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, targets the construction and characterization of a tandem instrument using ion cyclotron resonance with ion mobility spectrometry and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ICR/IMS/TOF MS) for the determination of the volumes of large biological molecules. The ICR will select particular mass-to-charge ions, the IMS will sort these particular mass-to-charge ions by volume, and the TOF MS will detect these ions. Measurement of ion volumes for isomass ions will provide fractional composition information about different structural forms of these large biological molecules. In this work Professor Russell and his students of the Department of Chemistry at Texas A & M University will construct a new instrument that will be used in conjunction with matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) MS to probe how phase parameters influence molecular conformation. The goal of this project is to build and characterize a new tandem mass spectrometer that can be used to determine the structure of large biological molecules. Professor Russell and his students at Texas A & M University will construct this instrument using principles of ion cyclotron resonance, an ion mobility spectrometer, and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. This instrument will then be coupled to a matrix assisted laser desorption ionization source so that large biological molecules introduced into the gas phase from the solid matrix can be then sorted and characterized according to their structure. The aim is to determine the affect of the solid matrix upon the structure of the biological molecules. This new instrument will be useful in a number of areas in biotechnology and in the chemical sciences.
