Mass Spectrometry

The Mass Spectrometry Lab, located in 1238 Hach Hall, is committed to providing excellent Mass Spectrometry services including teaching. The laboratory provides mass spectrometry analysis of a wide range of chemicals. Among those species are synthetic organic and inorganic compounds, plant extracts and their metabolites, and compounds of biological interest such as peptides and proteins et cetera.

In addition to discussing the available instrumentation and services, this website is intended to help under-graduate, graduate students, and researchers acquire background and expertise in mass spectrometry. Researchers are being trained to use GC/MS and /or LC/MS instruments and are allowed to use them 24/7. Comments or suggestions are welcome.

Please contact: Dr. Kamel Harrata, kamel@iastate.edu.

Current instrumentation include:

  • LC-MSMS-Accurate Mass: Agilent 6540 QTOF equipped with 1200 series U-HPLC system including autosampler and UV detector.  Available for customer use and training.  With a resolving power of greater than 40,000 and a mass range greater than 3000 Daltons (singly charged species), this instrument routinely provides mass measurements with an accuracy better than 2 parts-per-million.
  • LC-MS-Accurate Mass: Agilent 6230 QTOF equipped with 1200 series U-HPLC system including autosampler and DAD detector.  Available for customer use and training.  With a resolving power of greater than 30,000 and a mass range greater than 3000 Daltons (singly charged species), this instrument routinely provides mass measurements with an accuracy better than 2 parts-per-million.
  • GC-MSMS: Agilent 7250 GC/Q-TOF Quadrupole Time-of-Flight GC/MS system , high-resolution, accurate-mass data. Available for customer use and sample submission. The electron ionization source offers low energy EI capability.
  • LCMS: Shimadzu LCMS2020 quadrupole-based nominal mass system with complete LC system including autosampler and V detector.  Configured for "walk-on" customer use; also avaialble for long-term special projects.
  • GCMS: Agilent 5973 GCMS quadrupole based system with Agilent 6540 GC, ChemStation acquisition software, and MassHunter processing software. This instrument is currently configured with a pyrolysis attachment.