Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

A high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS) has become an essential research tool in organic chemistry labs. Funding is requested to replace an aging instrument that is currently shared by eight different research groups at Simon Fraser University and which has played a pivotal role in medicinal chemistry, drug target identification and validation, drug metabolism studies, natural product synthesis, methodological research, organometallics in medicines and catalysts, radiopharmaceutical research, and other fields. This instrument is no longer supported by the manufacturer and any interruption in the availability to an HRMS instrument will have widespread and devastating consequences for the research of more than 40 researchers. Background: Dr. Young's laboratory at SFU currently maintains an Agilent 62100 HRMS instrument and shares it with seven other professors and their students. Over 40 active users run between 5,000 and 8,000 samples every year. This instrument has been a hands-on workhorse and indispensable part of the research work at SFU. High-resolution mass spectrometry allows molecular formula determination, makes product identification feasible, and is one of the fundamental tools in understanding organic chemistry transformations. HRMS data is required by most journals, theses, and other refereed publications. In addition, the instrument is used hands-on by a diverse cadre of students and provides them with important skills and experience for career development. However, the current instrument model was first introduced by Agilent in 2006, and this particular unit was manufactured in 2008. It has greatly exceeded the life expectancy of similar instruments, and this model was declared obsolete by Agilent in 2015. To make things worse, the last two field service engineers that were trained to service this instrument have both retired in 2024 and are unwilling to provide service even on an ad hoc basis. Agilent has made it clear that it would no longer provide service or sell parts for this model. Currently the instrument is maintained by Dr. Young's lab manager, Dr. Chen, who has not only performed routine cleaning, calibration, and preventative maintenances, but also some advanced repairs like diagnosing and replacing the turbo pumps, replacing the main power supply unit, replacing the RF board, repairing the vacuum gauge, etc. However, since Agilent officially retired this model nine years ago, it has become increasingly difficult to obtain service parts, even from the second-hand market. It has become impractical to keep this instrument in proper working order. When something happens to the 18-year-old hardware and electronics that renders the instrument non-operable, the research work of all the current 40+ active users would be in serious jeopardy. It is therefore crucial and urgent to secure funding for a replacement as soon as possible. The preferred replacement would be an Agilent 6530, next generation of the 6210.