LASER MICROPROBE ORGANIC MICROANALYSIS FEASIBILITY STUDY

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL EVALUATE THE ORGANIC MICROANALYSIS CAPABILITY OF LASER IONZATION MASS SPECTROMETRY (LIMS). THIS TECHNIQUE, WHICH IS ALSO REFERREDTO AS LASER MICROPROBE MASS SPECTROMETRY, HAS BEEN SHOWN TO PROVIDE USEFUL ORGANIC MICROANALYSIS FOR SELECTED ORGANICSOLIDS; HOWEVER, A SYSTEMATIC EVALUATION OF THIS POTENTIALLYUNIQUE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS CAPABILITY HAS NOT BEEN PERFORMED. THIS PHASE I RESEARCH WILL ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE THE OVERALL UTILITY OF THE LIMS TECHNIQUE IN ORGANIC SOLIDS ANALYSIS BY:1. ACQUIRING A LIMS MASS SPECTRAL DATA BASE OF REPRESENTATIVE ORGANIC SOLIDS AT SEVERAL ANALYSIS CONDITIONS, 2. ANALYZING THESE MASS SPECTRA FOR STRUCTURALLY SIGNIFICANT ION PEAKS, 3. COMPARING, WHEN POSSIBLE, THESE LIMS MASS SPECTRA TO THOSE PRODUCED BY MORE CONVENTIONAL MASS SPECTROMETRIC TECHNIQUES, AND 4. APPLYING, WHERE APPROPRIATE, FACTOR ANALYSIS METHODS IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY OR DISTINGUISH THE MASS SPECTRA PRODUCED FROM DIFFERENT SOLIDS. THE LIMS MASS SPECTRAL DATA BASE AND THESE DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES WILL PROVIDE THE NECESSARY INFORMATION FROM WHICHTHE GENERAL UTILITY OF LIMS ORGANIC MICROANALYSIS CAN BE EVALUATED.