Mass Spectrometry

Welcome to the Mass Spectrometry Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Zurich. We offer highly accurate and sensitive measurements of pure, complex, volatile, or biological samples using various chromatographic and ionization methods. We also support research projects, sample preparation procedures, and offer contract analyses in various domains such as determination of unknown structures, quantification, analysis of complex mixtures, principle component analyses (PCA), or polymer characterization. Most of the mass spectra are collected on four instruments: GC-MS equipped with EI and CI ion source (DFS, Thermo Scientific), UHPLC-MS equipped with ESI or APCI (timsTOF Pro, Bruker / Vanquish, Thermo Scientific and QExactive and Ultimate 3000, Thermo Scientific), and MALDI-TOF (AutoflexSpeed, Bruker). The high-resolution DFS, timsTOF Pro, and QExactive instruments allow acquisition of accurate masses below 2 ppm and calculation of chemical formulae. With these mass spectrometers, the molecular mass of (bio)-molecules and their concentration can be determined, and structural information can be obtained by collision induced dissociation experiments (MS/MS).

Finally, we offer determination of concentrations of elements with ICP-MS (Agilent 8800 Triple Quadrupole). The method is used for its ability to detect metals and several non-metals in liquid samples at very low concentrations. It can detect different isotopes of the same element and different elements simultaneously.

For further information, please contact:

Prof. Dr. Laurent Bigler

Department of Chemistry
University of Zurich
Winterthurerstr. 190
CH-8057 Zurich
Switzerland

Room Nr.: 38 G 08
Fone:    ++41-44-635 42 86
Fax:      ++41-44-635 68 12
Email:   Laurent Bigler