General lecture entitled: Mass Spectrometry: a powerful analytical tool for the detection and identification of organic compounds

Faculty of Science Department of Chemistry

Chemistry Departm
ent is pleased to invite you to a general lecture entitled:

Mass Spectro
metry: a powerful analytical tool for the detection and identification of o
rganic compounds

Presented by
Dr. Nawar Shenar

Abstract:The gener
al terminology "Mass Spectrometry" encompasses a large variety of technique
s due to the different possible instrumental configurations of mass spectro
meters. The choice of a technique depends on the family of organic compound
s under study (e.g. lipids, peptides, polymers, etc.) as well as the pur
pose of the analysis (e.g. molecule detection, chemical composition identi
fication, structural elucidation, etc.). Due to this large variety of ava
ilable techniques, mass spectrometry has a large spectrum of applications.Two major application fields where mass spectrometry became a cornerstone
are Proteomics and Petroleomics.

In Proteomics, which can be defined asthe study of an organism's complete complement of proteins, two mass spec
trometric techniques are typically employed: (1) electrospray ionization ma
ss spectrometry (ESI-MS) and (2) matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionizatio
n mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS).

Petroleomics is the term used to describ
e the study of all components of a grade of crude oil (petroleum) and how t
hese components affect the properties and reactivity of that specific grade
. The major mass spectrometry techniques involved here are gas chromatograp
hy mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance
mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS).

Following a general introduction of the d
iscipline, an example of applications of mass spectrometry in proteomics w
ill be given through a discussion of part of Dr. Shenar's PhD research. Fin
ally, Dr. Shenar shall briefly present a part of her postdoctoral work wit
h private sector clients providing an example of mass spectrometry's applic
ation in petroleomics.

Keywords: Mass spectrometry, ESI-MS, MALDI-MS,LDI-MS, peptides, crude oil.