Lecture
Advancements in environmental metal speciation analysis by multi modal mass spectrometry
- 11.04.2024 at 13:30 - 14:00
- ICM Saal 5
- Language: English
- Type: Lecture
Lecture description
The fate of micronutrient and toxic metals in the environment is mainly governed by organic molecules that bind to metals and affect their solubility, reactivity, and bioavailability. Thus, understanding metal distributions and assessing their environmental impact requires fundamental knowledge of the sources and chemistry of metal-organic species. Determining the composition, selectivity, and bioavailability of these species in environmental samples is a formidable analytical challenge due to trace quantities of metals and the complexity of natural organic matter.
Here, we describe recent advances in liquid chromatography mass spectrometry-based methods for separating, quantifying, and identifying the specific organic molecules that strongly bind metals in environmental samples. A quantitative method for fractionation and element-specific detection of organic–metal complexes was developed using liquid chromatography with online inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LC–ICP-MS). The method implements a post-column compensation gradient to stabilize ICP–MS elemental response across the LC solvent gradient, thereby overcoming a significant barrier to achieving quantitative accuracy with LC–ICP-MS. Analyses were developed to characterize and identify the separated metal-organic species that pair identical chromatography with ultrahigh resolution orbitrap mass spectrometry. Advanced formula assignment algorithms leveraging accurate mass measurements and the detection of resolved isotopologues were employed to identify the parent organic-metal molecule. These algorithms have been integrated into scalable data processing pipelines in CoreMS, a Python-based platform for high resolution mass spectrometry data analysis. The scalability of these pipelines enables the characterization of metal-organic species within large datasets (>100s of samples), thereby facilitating environmental surveys of organic-metal species across expansive regions (e.g., the global coastal ocean).
This presentation will discuss how our multi-modal approach has shed new light on the environment's chemical forms, sources, and transformations of metals. Surveys of organic-metal species along the Oregon Coast identified benthic and biological processes that supply metals to surface waters, govern their bioavailability to phytoplankton, and ultimately support the growth of marine ecosystems. Analyses of copper speciation during wastewater treatment revealed the formation of organic copper complexes that escape treatment. These mechanistic insights improve our ability to monitor environmental changes and limit the ecologically harmful consequences of human activities.
Here, we describe recent advances in liquid chromatography mass spectrometry-based methods for separating, quantifying, and identifying the specific organic molecules that strongly bind metals in environmental samples. A quantitative method for fractionation and element-specific detection of organic–metal complexes was developed using liquid chromatography with online inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LC–ICP-MS). The method implements a post-column compensation gradient to stabilize ICP–MS elemental response across the LC solvent gradient, thereby overcoming a significant barrier to achieving quantitative accuracy with LC–ICP-MS. Analyses were developed to characterize and identify the separated metal-organic species that pair identical chromatography with ultrahigh resolution orbitrap mass spectrometry. Advanced formula assignment algorithms leveraging accurate mass measurements and the detection of resolved isotopologues were employed to identify the parent organic-metal molecule. These algorithms have been integrated into scalable data processing pipelines in CoreMS, a Python-based platform for high resolution mass spectrometry data analysis. The scalability of these pipelines enables the characterization of metal-organic species within large datasets (>100s of samples), thereby facilitating environmental surveys of organic-metal species across expansive regions (e.g., the global coastal ocean).
This presentation will discuss how our multi-modal approach has shed new light on the environment's chemical forms, sources, and transformations of metals. Surveys of organic-metal species along the Oregon Coast identified benthic and biological processes that supply metals to surface waters, govern their bioavailability to phytoplankton, and ultimately support the growth of marine ecosystems. Analyses of copper speciation during wastewater treatment revealed the formation of organic copper complexes that escape treatment. These mechanistic insights improve our ability to monitor environmental changes and limit the ecologically harmful consequences of human activities.
All lectures within this session
- 12:30 - 13:00Mid-Infrared Arthroscopy: Real-Time In-Vivo Cartilage Condition Assessment
- 13:00 - 13:30Advances in Quantitative Bioimaging of Nanomaterials using LA-ICP-MS: Implications for Nanotoxicology
- 13:30 - 14:00Advancements in environmental metal speciation analysis by multi modal mass spectrometry
- 14:00 - 14:30Advancing X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry for (Trace) Element Determination in Biomedical Samples and Energy Materials