Equipment: MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a LC-MS for small molecule identification

The separation of small molecules by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC or LC) and identification of the molecules by mass spectrometry (MS) has aided organic, analytical, and natural products chemists for 40 years (LC-MS). This technique has improved greatly over that time so that a nonexpert can get useful information about a compound with much less effort. The purchase of a low-resolution LC-MS impacts the training of a future generation of chemists, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college. This LC-MS would be incorporated into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum, used by undergraduates participating in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU – CHE2447813) and the Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences (UCARE) program. Beyond the undergraduate mission, this LC-MS will aid in training graduate students, who will use it independently for their research. Many will use LC-MS in their first job after leaving UNL. This LC-MS will drive the research of routine users and increase the knowledge of instrumentation for our undergraduates, graduates and postdoctoral fellows. This will be done through a combination of lectures on LC and MS, as given by experts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in these fields, and a workshop or practicum in which students are given practical experience in working with these methods on the new LC-MS system. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.