Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

An ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) system hyphenated to a diode array detector (DAD) and a single quadrupole mass selective detector (MSD) is requested for the Laboratory for the Analysis of Natural and Synthetic Environmental Toxicants (LANSET) at the University of Ottawa. L.A.N.S.E.T. is a research and training facility at the University of Ottawa that routinely analyzes a wide range of natural and synthetic environmental toxicants for the broader research community at the University of Ottawa and elsewhere and currently receives support from NSERC's Major Resources Support Program and the University of Ottawa's Core Facility Support Program. A basic requirement for our analysis is to conduct chromatographic separations of analytes followed by analysis by mass selective detection and photodiode array detection. This past year, our HPLC-DAD-MS system failed and is beyond repair, placing over 20 graduate student projects in serious jeopardy. The replacement system requested here is a fundamental research tool without which these projects cannot be completed. Moreover, L.A.N.S.E.T. provides analytical support to universities and industries nationally and internationally. A UHPLC- DAD-MS platform will permit broad-scale analysis of natural products and environmental pollutants and will permit discovery of unexpected metabolites and derivatives of the parent compounds.