The State University of New York at Stony Brook has a extended history of a strong commitment to mass spectrometry as an analytical technique. In 1973 the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacological Sciences created the SUNY - Stony Brook Mass Spectrometer Facility. Its mission is to provide complex mass spectrometer analyses to university research programs. A centralized laboratory was created in the Graduate Chemistry Building to house the Facility, and trained personnel have been retained to operate, maintain, and update the complex instrumentation used in mass spectrometer analyses.

Dr. Charles R. Iden joined the University in 1974 as the Director of the Mass Spectrometer Facility, and the Operations Committee provides guidance for major policy decisions. This laboratory has run effectively and efficiently and made major contributions to physical and biomedical research programs at Stony Brook and other neighboring research institutions. Instrumentation has remained state-of-the-art by adding new techniques to existing instruments and by significant new acquisitions.

The following general purpose instruments are operated by the SUNY-Stony Brook Mass Spectrometer Facility:

Kratos MS890/DS90 High Resolution Mass Spectrometer
This instrument was purchased in 1987 with funds from the National Institutes of Health and The State University of New York. It is equipped with a combined EI/CI ion source, a capillary column gas chromatograph, a FAB ion source, an extended range RF magnet, and variable source and collector slits. It is in constant use for quantitative GC/MS measurement of dioxins and other chlorinated compounds contained in incinerator ash, providing accurate mass measurements and elemental compositions, and for obtaining FAB mass spectra of modified nucleosides, oligodeoxynucleotides, inorganic compounds,and other nonvolatile or thermally labile materials. A continuousflow FAB probe was added to this instrument in 1990.

Hewlett Packard 5982A Dodecapole Mass Spectrometer
This instrument is a quadrupole GC/MS, and it is used extensively for acquisition of low resolution mass spectra. It was purchased in 1975 and has been a reliable, student operated instrument. While the mass spectrometer remains in excellent operating condition, the data system was outdated and replaced with a 486 PC-based Teknivent Vector II data system in 1991.

Hewlett Packard 5970 MSD
This is a benchtop quadrupole mass spectrometer interfaced to a Hewlett Packard 5890 gas chromatograph. It is used predominantly for quantitation of volatile molecules in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode of operation. It has an electron ionization source and functions only in the positive ion mode. It was recently transferred to the Mass Spectrometer Facility from another laboratory and is in excellent condition.

Fisons Instruments Trio-2000
In 1992, a dedicated LC/MS instrument was added to the Facility. Funding for this instrument was provided by the NIH Division of Research Resources. Thermospray, particle beam, particle beam/FAB, and electrospray, incorporated on this mass spectrometer, are important new ionization techniques for the identification of nonvolatile compounds such as modified nucleosides and nucleotides, and small polymeric species such as peptides and oligodeoxynucleotides. The instrument has an extended mass range (m/z 2500), and spectra may be acquired in either the positive or negative ion mode. It is interfaced to a Waters HPLC instrument.

Contact:
Dr. Charles Iden
(516) 632-8867
Email: Charles.Iden@sunysb.edu

Last Update: 05/21/2007