Welcome
We think of mass spectrometry as the science and technology of ions. Our interests therefore involve construction of mass spectrometers, fundamental studies of ion reactions and collision processes and applications to medicine, biochemistry and organic chemistry. A central current interest is in ambient ionization and its application in imaging tumor margins, monitoring therapeutic drugs in biofluids, following embryological development, and identifying microorganisms. Each of these experiments involves minimal sample workup. Another strong interest is in preparative mass spectrometry, both by soft landing ions onto surfaces in vacuum to generate new materials and also by collecting the products of solution-phase reactions occurring in electrospray droplets. In situ analysis using miniature mass spectrometers coupled to ambient ion sources for environmental, public safety and other applications is of interest. So, too, is on-line reaction monitoring. Ion chemistry is astonishingly rich as exemplified by nitrogen atom insertion into n-alkanes, chirally selective amino acid clustering and C-C bond formation, all being studied at atmospheric pressure.
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Latest Publications (view all)
Lucas J. Szalwinski and R. Graham Cooks “Complex Mixture Analysis by Two-Dimensional Mass Spectrometry using a Miniature Ion Trap” Talanta Open (2021)
Kai-Hung Huang, Zhenwei Wei, and R. Graham Cooks “Accelerated Reactions of Amines with Carbon Dioxide Driven by Superacid at the Microdroplet Interface” Chem. Sci. (2020)
Rong Chen, Zhenwei Wei, and R. Graham Cooks “Collection and Characterization by Mass Spectrometry of the Neutral Serine Octamer Generated upon Sublimation” Anal. Chem. (2020)