ION MOBILITY DETECTOR FOR CAPILLARY ZONE ELECTROPHORESIS

THIS PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE THE PERFORMANCE OF AN OPTIMIZED ION MOBILITY SPECTROMETRY (IMS) DETECTOR FOR APPLICABILITY AS A DETECTOR FOR CAPILLARY ZONE ELECTROPHORESIS (CZE). IT IS POSTULATED THAT THE INHERENT SEPARATION CAPABILITY OF IMS COMBINED WITH THE ABILITY TO DETECT AND RESOLVE VERY HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHTS INDICATES A VERY HIGH PROBABILITY THAT FURTHER DEVELOPED IMS TECHNIQUES WILL YIELD THE MOST SUCCESSFUL CZE DETECTOR. THE CZE DETECTOR WILL BE SUITABLE FOR DETECTING LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF BIOGENIC MOLECULES IN AQUEOUS OR ORGANIC SOLUTIONS AT FLOW RATES FROM 5 TO 50 MICROLITERS PER MINUTE. BECAUSE IMS IS A GAS-PHASE SEPARATION AND DETECTIONMETHOD AND CZE IS A LIQUID-PHASE METHOD, SCIENTECH, INC., WILL FIRST CONCENTRATE ON OPTIMIZING AN ELECTROSPRAY COUPLING BETWEEN THE CZE COLUMN AND THE IMS DETECTOR AND THEN TEST PERFORMANCE WITH KEY BIOGENIC COMPOUNDS.