This project incorporates a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GC/MS) throughout the chemistry curriculum. In the introductory laboratory courses, after a laboratory illustrating chromatography, students use the GC/MS to identify a mixture of liquids using the retention times and molecular weights of the separated materials. In organic chemistry laboratory, students learn more of the theory of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry and use GC/MS in the analysis of a variety of materials they synthesize or receive. A GC/MS also permits a wider variety of special projects in this course. In analytical chemistry, students can begin using the GC/MS independently. They can develop a procedure to analyze potatoes for pesticides and a procedure to analyze gases that are emitted from materials in simulated space conditions. In the spectroscopy course, mass spectra taken by GC/MS can be used to illustrate the experimental parameters that affect mass spectra. In biochemistry laboratory, students use the instrument to determine the composition of fatty acid esters isolated and prepared from naturally occurring materials, and they use the GC/MS to determine the amino acid composition of a protein. In senior laboratory, the GC/MS permits research-level synthesis products and more difficult unknowns to be fully characterized. The instrument can further some undergraduate research projects and permit other projects to be started. A series of seminars on mass spectrometry can be sponsored for the local chemistry community using speakers from local industry and local universities. *
