Chemistry Final Defense – Nathan Buzitis

About the event

Speaker: Nathan Buzitis

Group: Dr. Clowers

Title: BRINGING MOBILITY TO THE MASSES: DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION OF ION MOBILITY WITH MASS ANALYZERS

Abstract:  Despite its century-long history in scientific circles, ion mobility remains underutilized when compared to more established separation methods (i.e., liquid and gas chromatography). While ion mobility has advantages in gas-phase conformational determination and faster analysis times, it has only recently begun expanding beyond security applications and individual research labs toward the greater scientific community. Widespread adoption is partly limited due to the availability of commercial instrumentation and the slow dissemination of experimental designs. Most ion mobility literature lacks the experimental information required to recreate the described instrumentation, directly hindering instrumental reproduction. Moreover, ion mobility often necessitates custom gating schemes and specialized knowledge to integrate with commonly available mass analyzers such as ion traps and time-of-flight systems. These factors directly hinder the widespread adoption of ion mobility as a gas-phase separation methodology. This work outlines the construction of multiple ion mobility systems (traveling wave and drift tube) and introduces gating techniques to facilitate integration with mass analyzers. Additionally, all experimental designs are released openly, providing an accessible alternative to existing setups and commercial solutions.