University of Oxford, Chemistry Teaching Laboratories

Q: What is the focus of your lab’s research?

A: We run a large and very busy Teaching Laboratory, teaching practical skills to almost 600 undergraduates on the MChem degree course at Oxford University.

Q: What are your previous workflow and experiences challenges?

A: In many universities, undergraduate access to mass spectrometry is limited to the occasional use of a service machine, whose primary role is to support the research groups in the department. Undergraduates might be provided with data from such a service but rarely are able to collect this data themselves.

Q: Why did you incorporate the expression® CMS?

A: The expression® CMS is a fantastic instrument for undergraduate teaching. We have two machines – one set up for TLC/MS and the other with an ASAP® probe. Undergraduates, right from the first year, experience how easy it is to gather high quality, mass spectrometry data. With limited training, students are able to use the spectrometers themselves, with minimal risk of instrument damage. Collecting MS data is now as routine as getting an IR spectrum and the fast throughput of samples allows many students a day to collect data.

Q: Who would you recommend to purchase the expression® CMS?

A: We would recommend any undergraduate teaching lab to consider the purchase of the expression® CMS system. We have had our machines for 3-4 years now, and the reliability has been very good indeed. The quality of the data obtained sets our students up to use mass spectrometry in their future research careers.

Q: Do you have any publications or presentations using the expression® CMS?

A: Poster presentation: The Use of Mass Spectrometry in an Integrated Undergraduate Practical Course. Presented at the chemistry and physics education conference, ViCEPhEC, in 2019.

We are currently working on a paper with Professor Claire Vallance on the use of machine learning to classify food stuffs (fruit, tea, whisky, etc.) by mass spectrometry as an undergraduate project. We intend to publish this work in the Journal of Chemical Education in the coming months.

Setting Up Flash Chromatography in Your Lab: Faster Workflows for Better Purifications

Avoid workflow bottlenecks by streamlining the flash purification process in your lab. This whitepaper can help you identify, reduce, or even eliminate these bottlenecks, tanking your standard operational time from hours to minutes. Learn how essential tools including TLC, a smartphone application and a simple dipping probe for fraction ID offer a novel, systematic approach to help accelerate both synthesis and purification.

Key Objectives:
  • Learn the key tools to setting up a streamlined purification workflow in your lab.
  • Review the most time-consuming processes in a routine flash purification workflow and how to avoid these bottlenecks.
  • Explore how modern technology, including a smartphone application, can assist with method development.

Direct Screening of Cocaine on Money Note Surfaces by OPSI/CMS Analysis

Cocaine is a globally used illicit drug and its widespread use remains a significant public health concern. It is known that US paper currency in general circulation is contaminated with cocaine. There are several possible explanations for this: contamination due to handling during drug deals, the use of rolled up bills for snorting or inhalation, and cross contamination between bills in circulation. The analytical methods for cocaine analysis on paper currency are normally HPLC/UV, GC/MS or LC-MS/MS, however, all of these methods require significant sample preparation before analysis.

In this poster, a quick and direct screening method for detection of cocaine on paper currency is introduced using the Touch Express Open Port Sampling Interface (OPSI) on the Advion expression® CMS.

This poster was presented at ASMS 2021 in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Mass Spec Simplified – Techniques for Reducing Sample Preparation Burden

This webinar features several useful tools to simplify or even eliminate the sample preparation involved prior to mass spectrometry. In this educational session you will learn about several prep-free mass spec techniques that are available, and how to select which method is best for your analysis. Advion will share their perspectives on some of the new tools and protocols to minimize and simplify sample preparation. You’ll learn how to reduce your time in the lab and see your mass spec results in as little as 30 seconds!

As an attendee, you will learn more about:

  • How to select the best tools for sample introduction based on your compound
  • How new tools can reduce or eliminate sample preparation for results in <30 seconds
  • New workflows to maximize your time in the lab by simplifying complex processes

This webinar was presented at the 2023 LabXpo Virtual event by Lab Manager  and LabX, recorded July 20, 2023.

Seed treatment with prodigiosin controls damping-off of cucumber caused by Pythium ultimum

Authors: USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Agios Pharmaceuticals, TIC Gums, United States; Universidade Federal de Lavras, Brazil

Abstract

Ethanol extract of cell mass of Serratia marcescens strain N4-5, when applied as a treatment to cucumber seed, has been shown to provide control of the oomycete soil-borne plant pathogen Pythium ultimum equivalent to that provided by a seed-treatment chemical pesticide in some soils. Two dominant compounds in this extract, prodigiosin and the serratamolide serrawetin W1, were identified based on mass and collision induced dissociation mass fragmentation spectra. An additional four compounds with M+H+ masses (487, 541, 543, and 571) consistent with serratamolides reported in the literature were also detected. Several other compounds with M+H+ masses of 488, 536, 684, 834, 906, and 908 m/z were detected in this ethanol extract inconsistently over multiple liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS–MS) runs. A purified preparation of prodigiosin provided control of damping-off of cucumber caused by P. ultimum when applied as a seed treatment while ethanol extract of cell mass of strain Tn246, a transposon-mutant-derivative of strain N4-5, did not. Strain Tn246 contained a mini-Tn5 Km insertion in a prodigiosin biosynthetic gene and was deficient in production of prodigiosin. All other compounds detected in N4-5 extract were detected in the Tn246 extract. This is the first report demonstrating that prodigiosin can control a plant disease. Other compounds in ethanol extract of strain N4-5 may contribute to disease control.

TLC/MS characterization of prodigiosin was performed using the Advion Interchim Scientific® Plate Express™ Automated TLC Plate Reader and expression® Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS).

Mass Spec for Chemists: The expression® CMS – Compact. Fast. Easy. & Affordable

With over 20 years of mass spectrometry and chemistry expertise, Advion Interchim Scientific® has produced a family of compact mass spectrometers designed for the chemist. The affordability, small size and ease of use make them ideal for use directly at the chemist’s bench, giving immediate answers and informed decisions instead of waiting.

The Advion Interchim Scientific® expression® compact mass spectrometer (CMS) is a fast and easy analytical tool for the organic chemist. Ideal for fast reaction monitoring, the expression® CMS features a single quadrupole that can adapt to multiple ionization sources in seconds, including both ESI and APCI. The mass spectrometer works in a variety of applications, including food and beverage, pharmaceutical, biomedical, peptides and proteins, drug discovery and more. The expression® CMS offers a variety of novel sampling techniques, including:

  • Direct mass analysis of TLC plates in 30 seconds at the push of a button with Plate Express®
  • One-touch analysis of solids and liquid samples with the ASAP® probe
  • LC/CMS
  • Many more options and configurations to suit your needs

Learn more about the different sample techniques available with the expression® CMS, including fast assay methods for liquids, solids, gases, and even air-sensitive compounds.

Fill out the form to download the full expression® CMS brochure now.

Polymer Defect Engineering – Conductive 2D Organic Platelets from Precise Thiophene-Doped Polyethylene

Authors: Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Germany; University of Twente, Netherlands

Abstract

We developed a simple way to create 2D conductive nanostructures with dielectric cores and conductive surfaces based on polyethylene with in-chain thiophene groups. Generally, thiophene-based polymers show great conductive properties, but exhibit a poor processability. Here, we use the crystallization of a polyethylene chain with precisely distributed thiophene groups as the platform for a self-organization of a lamellar structure. During crystallization, thiophene groups are expelled to the crystal surface. Subsequent copolymerization with 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) molecules finally yields 2D platelets with a conductive surface. The electric properties of the surface are demonstrated by conductivity measurements. Given the molecular structure of the polymer, it can be assumed that the conductive layer consists of only one monoatomic layer of polymerized thiophene. We thus show a new way to create an ultra-thin, conductive surface on a polymer surface in just a few steps. Hence, the method presented here opens up a wide range of possibilities to produce complex, nanoscale electronic structures for microelectronic applications.

Mass spectrum analysis was obtained by ASAP/CMS using the Advion Interchim Scientific® ASAP® Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe and expression® Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS)

Application of open port sampling interface mass spectrometry (OPSI‐MS) to deuterium exchange as an aid for structural elucidation

AstraZeneca, United Kingdom

Abstract

Deuterium exchange has been demonstrated to provide additional information to accurate mass measurement and collision‐induced dissociation on unknown chemical structures. An enhanced method for rapid deuterium exchange could make this technique more routine for structural elucidation. Open port sampling interface mass spectrometry (OPSI‐MS) with an aprotic solvent offers a rapid method for performing deuterium incorporation.

Schematic of OPSI

This publication features the Advion Interchim Scientific® Touch Express™ OPSI with the expression® Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS).

The mucin-degradation strategy of Ruminococcus gnavus: The importance of intramolecular trans-sialidases

Institute of Food Research, Genome Analysis Center, Aix-Marseille University, University of East Anglia

Abstract

We previously identified and characterized an intramolecular trans-sialidase (IT-sialidase) in the gut symbiont Ruminococcus gnavus ATCC 29149, which is associated to the ability of the strain to grow on mucins. In this work we have obtained and analyzed the draft genome sequence of another R. gnavusmucin-degrader, ATCC 35913, isolated from a healthy individual. Transcriptomics analyses of both ATCC 29149 and ATCC 35913 strains confirmed that the strategy utilized by R. gnavus for mucin-degradation is focused on the utilization of terminal mucin glycans. R. gnavus ATCC 35913 also encodes a predicted IT-sialidase and harbors a Nan cluster dedicated to sialic acid utilization. We showed that the Nan cluster was upregulated when the strains were grown in presence of mucin. In addition we demonstrated that both R. gnavus strains were able to grow on 2,7-anyhydro-Neu5Ac, the IT-sialidase transglycosylation product, as a sole carbon source. Taken together these data further support the hypothesis that IT-sialidase expressing gut microbes, provide commensal bacteria such as R. gnavus with a nutritional competitive advantage, by accessing and transforming a source of nutrient to their own benefit.

Mass spectrometry analysis was performed on the Advion Interchim Scientific® expression® Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS) and the data was evaluated using Advion Interchim Scientific® Data Express software.