Acquisition of Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometer for the Environmental Research Facility of Biosphere 2 Center, Columbia University

With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, the Biosphere 2 Center at Columbia University will acquire a Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometer (PTR-MS) and a gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometer (GC-TOFMS) to support a collaborative, interdisciplinary research agenda in chemical ecology and biosphere-atmosphere chemistry. This equipment will enhance research in a number of areas including a) investigations of host-plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and CO2 emissions in insect neurobiology; b) analysis of chemical communication and defense in a pantropical ant; c) on-line measurements of biosphere-atmosphere chemistry influenced by plant emission of VOCs; d) understanding the role of plant-emitted isoprene in (insect) chemical ecology; and e) ion mobility spectroscopy development.

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a technique used to probe intimate structural details and to obtain the molecular compositions of a vast array of organic, bioorganic, and organometallic molecules. The results from these studies will have an impact in a number of areas including chemical ecology and atmospheric sciences.