ENVIRONMENTAL MASS SPECTROMETRY (GC-MS) UNIT
Operating Staff:Mr. Paul DonohoeUnit Manager: Dr Martin Jones
Martin.Jones@newcastle.ac.uk
The Environmental MS Unit provides a dedicated gas chromatography-mass
spectrometry (GC-MS) service based on a Hewlett Packard 5890-5972 GC-
MSD instrument. The GC-MSD, which was installed in 1994, has a
quadrupole mass analyser (unit resolution) with a mass range from 2-
700 amu and a fixed 70eV electron impact ionization (EI), which can
acquire data in full scan (cycle time <1s) or selected ion monitoring
modes. The spectrometer is interfaced to a Hewlett-Packard 5890
Series II GC equipped with splitless and on-column injectors which can
both be used in manual mode or by the attached HP7673 autosampler.
The GC is fitted with a cryogenic cooling facility enabling easier
analysis of volatile substances. Data collected and editing is by a
HP DOS/Windows-based Chem Station which has an NIST spectral library
search facility. The data system has software for compound
quantitation which is Excel spreadsheet compatible.
| Typical compounds and compound mixtures that are routinely analysed
include: gases, hydrocarbons, PAH, pesticides, phenols, fatty acids
(as FAMES), steroids, triterpenoids, alcohols, ketones, esters etc.
These mixtures have often been isolated from complex matrices such as
plant and animal tissue, sediment, soil, sludge, crude oil, water etc.
Advice on the GC-MS analyses of numerous substances in a variety of
matrices is available from the Unit. | Other (non-central) mass spectrometry services (e.g. +ve/-ve CI, probe MS and pyrolysis-GC-MS) also exist in FFEG. Enquiries about those non- central services should also be made to Dr. D.M. Jones. |
Manager: Martin.Jones@Newcastle.ac.uk