Customized Mass Spectrometry Platform
From standard testing to bespoke measurement
The platform is set up for research collaboration rather than routine contract testing. Drawing on established experience in mass spectrometry system integration and analytical method development, measurement schemes are planned around the requirements of each project.
Operated as a sub-project of the NSTC A-Core Plus advanced core facility programme.
Why customization
Mass spectrometry has become indispensable across the chemical sciences, but standardised workflows break down exactly where frontier research needs them most: observing unstable reaction intermediates, or molecules under extreme conditions. Capturing that data usually requires redesigning the inlet system and integrating a different ionization source, and permanent instrument centres cannot make those modifications without compromising throughput and stability. Many groups have excellent scientific questions but no mass spectrometry team able to work across disciplines with them.
What we do
Measurement of demanding samples
For air- and moisture-sensitive products and highly reactive intermediates, a workable measurement scheme is designed so that direct experimental evidence replaces indirect inference.
Workflows designed around the research question
Workflows are constructed from the characteristics of the sample and the objective of the study, extending to conditions that standardised instrumentation does not cover.
Technical training
In addition to analysis and consultation, training can be arranged so that the collaborating group develops the capability in-house.
Services
- Observation of reaction intermediates in solution
- Cold-spray ionization mass spectrometry (CSI-MS)
- General mass spectrometric analysis
- Experimental design and consultation
Collaboration cases
Mechanism of electrochemical water oxidation
Working with synthetic and computational groups on metal complexes with varied ligands, we used cold-spray ionization mass spectrometry to follow how intermediate concentrations evolve during the reaction. Detecting short-lived active species during a fast electrochemical reaction provides the molecular evidence required to distinguish competing mechanistic proposals, and indicates how ligand design balances activity against overpotential.
- Overcoming the Tradeoff Between Reaction Rate and Overpotential in Dinuclear Cobalt Complex Catalyzed Electrochemical Water OxidationChem. Eur. J. 2025, 31 (10), e202403583 · doi:10.1002/chem.202403583
- Exploring Electrochemical C(sp3)–H Oxidation over Fe Complexes: Ligand Effect on the Rate–Bond Dissociation Energy Relationship and Reaction MechanismACS Catal. 2025, 15 (11), 9106–9116 · doi:10.1021/acscatal.5c01183
- Manipulating the Rate and Overpotential for Electrochemical Water Oxidation: Mechanistic Insights for Cobalt Catalysts Bearing Noninnocent Bis(benzimidazole)pyrazolide LigandsACS Org. Inorg. Au 2024, 4 (3), 306–318 · doi:10.1021/acsorginorgau.3c00061
Development of new palladium precatalysts
SIPr-NAPA precatalysts show good activity in Kumada–Tamao–Corriu couplings. Mass spectrometry was used to characterise the newly synthesised precatalysts and to establish their activation pathway and the formation of the active species. The spectra show dissociation of the NHC and phosphinous acid ligands from the precatalyst, consistent with DFT calculations and indicating an activation route not previously reported.
- Advanced Pd-NAPA Precatalysts for Broad-Scope Kumada–Tamao–Corriu Couplings of Challenging Aryl ChloridesAsian J. Org. Chem. 2025, 14 (10), e00332 · doi:10.1002/ajoc.202500332
- Reactivity-Tunable Palladium Precatalysts with Favorable Catalytic Properties in Suzuki–Miyaura Cross-Coupling ReactionsChemCatChem 2022, 14, e202200736 · doi:10.1002/cctc.202200736