Meeting February 23rd

February 2023 Kentucky Lake Section Meeting

Strategies for Improving Figures of Merit in
Ion Mobility Spectrometry

Featuring Dr. Caleb Morris,
Assistant Professor at Murray State University

Thursday, February 23rd

at Bethel University
Student Center, Activities Room A
101 Wildcat Ln, McKenzie, TN 38201

Dinner @ 6pm / Presentation @ 7pm
Deli Sandwich Buffet w/ Chips & Brownies
($10 Members/$5 STudents)

Abstract:
Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) uses the combination of buffer gas and electric fields to separate ions based on their gas phase mobilities. This separation occurs on the order of milliseconds, pairing well with common separation techniques. It can be paired with mass spectrometry as a pre-separation technique or as a secondary separation after liquid or gas chromatography. It can also be used as a single separation method for the analysis of explosive residue, chemical warfare agents, and industrial contaminants. The stand-alone IMS devices often need to be portable to allow for measurements at various sites of interest. Due to size constraints on the mobility cell, these portable instruments are limited in separation capability compared to more conventional laboratory IMS instrumentation. Significant improvements have been made to the separation capabilities of larger conventional IMS designs. By combining these improvements in technology and design, it is now possible to create a new generation of portable, high resolution IMS instruments. These new device models are currently being investigated to ensure improved separation capability and enhanced analytical flexibility for this class of IMS instrumentation.

Biography:
Dr. Morris graduated from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. His undergraduate research spanned a number of projects, from the investigation of natural product synthesis pathways to proteomic analysis of human and bovine tissue. His doctoral work in chemistry was under the direction of John McLean at Vanderbilt University. There, he focused on the characterization of ion mobility separation, with a special interest in the effect of drift gas. He worked on developing mathematical descriptors for the prediction of analyte behavior in ion mobility-mass spectrometry and explored improvements in ion mobility analysis utilizing various drift gases. He recently came to Murray State University where his research focus is on the design and optimization of portable ion mobility spectrometers.