Grants and Contributions:

Title:

Structural characterization of ions using differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) and spectroscopy - implications for modeling the DMS process

Agreement Number:

CRDPJ

Agreement Value:

$50,000.00

Agreement Date:

Dec 13, 2017 -

Organization:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Location:

Ontario, CA

Reference Number:

GC-2017-Q3-00305

Agreement Type:

Grant

Report Type:

Grants and Contributions

Additional Information:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Recipient's Legal Name:

Hopkins, Scott (University of Waterloo)

Program:

Collaborative Research and Development Grants - Project

Program Purpose:

Differential Mobility Spectrometry, or DMS, is emerging as a power tool for use in a rapidly growing numberx000D
and variety of applications involving ion detection and characterization. Analytical laboratories associated withx000D
the pharmaceutical industry, medical research, and environmental monitoring are all now employing DMSx000D
technology. DMS characterizes charged chemical species by their mobility through an inert gas under dynamicx000D
electric field conditions. Ions are separated based on their mass-to-charge ratios, their shapes, and how theyx000D
interact with the gas in the collision cell. Instrument sensitivities are typically on the parts-per-billion tox000D
parts-per-trillion range. Recently, in collaboration with researchers at SCIEX, we demonstrated that dynamicx000D
clustering and de-clustering lies at the origin or the enhanced separation displayed by DMS in comparison withx000D
other separation techniques. Moreover, we have demonstrated that instrument conditions can be tuned such thatx000D
the species being probed will exhibit either gas-phase or solution-phase properties, and that the clusteringx000D
propensities of ions correlate strongly with their condensed phase properties. This work, which is conducted inx000D
partnership with SCIEX, will provide an unambiguous structural characterization of the molecular ions whichx000D
are separated and isolated by DMS.x000D
Here, we will characterize the DMS behaviour of a variety of compounds while simultaneously probing thesex000D
species with high-resolution laser spectroscopy. These studies will also be supported by high-level quantumx000D
chemical calculations. The experimental and computational results that we obtain will be used to build ax000D
database to which we will apply machine learning. This work will provide a deep, fundamental description ofx000D
the dynamic clustering environment in the DMS instrument, and will provide an unambiguous picture of thex000D
relationship between an ion's structure and its physicochemical properties in the gas- and condense-phases.x000D
This information is critical for the development for DMS-based physicochemical properties assays.