Laboratory Insider: A Look Inside the Organic Synthesis Lab

Ask the Expert Webinar
Presented live November 2, 2022

Step inside the Parasram Lab at New York University for a look at some of their latest research.

In this webinar, Professor Marvin Parasram will discuss data from his laboratory’s recent publication, “Anaerobic Heteroatom Transfer Reactions Using Photoexcited Nitroarenes.” The research features developments on the anaerobic cleavage of alkenes into carbonyl compounds using nitroarenes as oxygen transfer reagents under visible light. This approach is a safe and practical alternative to mainstream oxidative cleavage protocols, such as ozonolysis and the Lemieux–Johnson reaction.

As an attendee, you will learn more about:

  • How a wide range of alkenes possessing oxidatively sensitive functionalities underwent anaerobic cleavage to generate carbonyl derivatives with high efficiency and regioselectivity, using the Advion Interchim Scientific puriFlash® 5.250 Preparative HPLC system.
  • Mechanistic studies support that the transformation occurs via direct photoexcitation of the nitroarene followed by a nonstereospecific radical cycloaddition event with alkenes.
    How this process leads to 1,3,2- and 1,4,2-dioxazolidine intermediates that fragment to give the carbonyl products, using the Advion Interchim Scientific expression Compact Mass Spectrometer.
  • How a combination of radical clock experiments and in situ photoNMR spectroscopy revealed the identities of the key radical species and the putative aryl dioxazolidine intermediates, respectively.Watched the video and ready to learn more?

Development of New Synthetic Methodologies Enabled by Advion Interchim Scientific Workflow

Recorded May 5, 2022.

Join Daniel Kim, Ph.D., Assistant Professor ​Organic, Inorganic, Biological, from Temple University, as he presents several new methodologies developed for reaction discovery.

In this webinar, you will learn:

  • How to develop a fast and modular workflow for reaction discovery on a budget
  • The advantages to using Advion-Interchim Scientific suite of instruments
  • A review of unpublished work on developing new reaction discovery

Streamlined Benchtop Chemistry: Faster Workflow from Reaction to Fraction

Lab Manager Ask the Expert Webinar. Recorded September 7, 2022

Maximize your workflow—even with limited space at the bench. This webinar features innovative solutions for streamlining the chemists’ everyday needs, including reaction monitoring, purification, fraction collection, and evaporation. No matter what your application, the session will address some of the most common bottlenecks and how to avoid them to improve your process.

As a viewer, you will learn more about:

  • How to use TLC plates to make flash purification faster and more efficient
  • Software hacks leveraging sophisticated algorithms for better purifications
  • 30-second fraction ID to speed up the process
  • How evaporation can be easier, faster, and more reliable

Webinar speakers include:

Gary Williams
Vice President, Chemist & North American Sales
Advion Interchim Scientific

Nathaniel Kunzer
Product Specialist
Heidolph

Helium Shortages in the Chemistry Lab: Compound Characterization Using Helium-Free Techniques

Helium shortages are not new – annually, scientists see the cost of helium rise and fall like the stock market. Except this isn’t just a financial impact. Global helium shortages threaten to derail research and essential industry functions, taking down GC and high-field NMR instruments, bringing a once state-of-the-art lab down to a bare-bones facility.

This whitepaper explores the use of alternative reaction monitoring technology, including the expression® CMS (Compact Mass Spectrometer), Plate ExpressTM TLC Plate Reader, and ASAP® probe for liquid and solid samples – all helium-free alternatives for the chemistry laboratory.

Reaction Monitoring Capabilities at the Bench:

  • The expression® CMS offers an ideal reaction monitoring solution that will live on long beyond the helium shortage and become a centerpiece of the lab. The system offers a complete solution for: 
  • Batch and flow chemistry 
  • Fast compound identification and purity determination
  • …with little or no sample preparation required, and many novel sample introduction interfaces

University of Oxford, Chemistry Teaching Laboratories

Q: What is the focus of your lab’s research?

A: We run a large and very busy Teaching Laboratory, teaching practical skills to almost 600 undergraduates on the MChem degree course at Oxford University.

Q: What are your previous workflow and experiences challenges?

A: In many universities, undergraduate access to mass spectrometry is limited to the occasional use of a service machine, whose primary role is to support the research groups in the department. Undergraduates might be provided with data from such a service but rarely are able to collect this data themselves.

Q: Why did you incorporate the expression® CMS?

A: The expression® CMS is a fantastic instrument for undergraduate teaching. We have two machines – one set up for TLC/MS and the other with an ASAP® probe. Undergraduates, right from the first year, experience how easy it is to gather high quality, mass spectrometry data. With limited training, students are able to use the spectrometers themselves, with minimal risk of instrument damage. Collecting MS data is now as routine as getting an IR spectrum and the fast throughput of samples allows many students a day to collect data.

Q: Who would you recommend to purchase the expression® CMS?

A: We would recommend any undergraduate teaching lab to consider the purchase of the expression® CMS system. We have had our machines for 3-4 years now, and the reliability has been very good indeed. The quality of the data obtained sets our students up to use mass spectrometry in their future research careers.

Q: Do you have any publications or presentations using the expression® CMS?

A: Poster presentation: The Use of Mass Spectrometry in an Integrated Undergraduate Practical Course. Presented at the chemistry and physics education conference, ViCEPhEC, in 2019.

We are currently working on a paper with Professor Claire Vallance on the use of machine learning to classify food stuffs (fruit, tea, whisky, etc.) by mass spectrometry as an undergraduate project. We intend to publish this work in the Journal of Chemical Education in the coming months.

Setting Up Flash Chromatography in Your Lab: Faster Workflows for Better Purifications

Avoid workflow bottlenecks by streamlining the flash purification process in your lab. This whitepaper can help you identify, reduce, or even eliminate these bottlenecks, tanking your standard operational time from hours to minutes. Learn how essential tools including TLC, a smartphone application and a simple dipping probe for fraction ID offer a novel, systematic approach to help accelerate both synthesis and purification.

Key Objectives:
  • Learn the key tools to setting up a streamlined purification workflow in your lab.
  • Review the most time-consuming processes in a routine flash purification workflow and how to avoid these bottlenecks.
  • Explore how modern technology, including a smartphone application, can assist with method development.

Direct Screening of Cocaine on Money Note Surfaces by OPSI/CMS Analysis

Cocaine is a globally used illicit drug and its widespread use remains a significant public health concern. It is known that US paper currency in general circulation is contaminated with cocaine. There are several possible explanations for this: contamination due to handling during drug deals, the use of rolled up bills for snorting or inhalation, and cross contamination between bills in circulation. The analytical methods for cocaine analysis on paper currency are normally HPLC/UV, GC/MS or LC-MS/MS, however, all of these methods require significant sample preparation before analysis.

In this poster, a quick and direct screening method for detection of cocaine on paper currency is introduced using the Touch Express Open Port Sampling Interface (OPSI) on the Advion expression® CMS.

This poster was presented at ASMS 2021 in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Mass Spec Simplified – Techniques for Reducing Sample Preparation Burden

This webinar features several useful tools to simplify or even eliminate the sample preparation involved prior to mass spectrometry. In this educational session you will learn about several prep-free mass spec techniques that are available, and how to select which method is best for your analysis. Advion will share their perspectives on some of the new tools and protocols to minimize and simplify sample preparation. You’ll learn how to reduce your time in the lab and see your mass spec results in as little as 30 seconds!

As an attendee, you will learn more about:

  • How to select the best tools for sample introduction based on your compound
  • How new tools can reduce or eliminate sample preparation for results in <30 seconds
  • New workflows to maximize your time in the lab by simplifying complex processes

This webinar was presented at the 2023 LabXpo Virtual event by Lab Manager  and LabX, recorded July 20, 2023.

Seed treatment with prodigiosin controls damping-off of cucumber caused by Pythium ultimum

Authors: USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Agios Pharmaceuticals, TIC Gums, United States; Universidade Federal de Lavras, Brazil

Abstract

Ethanol extract of cell mass of Serratia marcescens strain N4-5, when applied as a treatment to cucumber seed, has been shown to provide control of the oomycete soil-borne plant pathogen Pythium ultimum equivalent to that provided by a seed-treatment chemical pesticide in some soils. Two dominant compounds in this extract, prodigiosin and the serratamolide serrawetin W1, were identified based on mass and collision induced dissociation mass fragmentation spectra. An additional four compounds with M+H+ masses (487, 541, 543, and 571) consistent with serratamolides reported in the literature were also detected. Several other compounds with M+H+ masses of 488, 536, 684, 834, 906, and 908 m/z were detected in this ethanol extract inconsistently over multiple liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS–MS) runs. A purified preparation of prodigiosin provided control of damping-off of cucumber caused by P. ultimum when applied as a seed treatment while ethanol extract of cell mass of strain Tn246, a transposon-mutant-derivative of strain N4-5, did not. Strain Tn246 contained a mini-Tn5 Km insertion in a prodigiosin biosynthetic gene and was deficient in production of prodigiosin. All other compounds detected in N4-5 extract were detected in the Tn246 extract. This is the first report demonstrating that prodigiosin can control a plant disease. Other compounds in ethanol extract of strain N4-5 may contribute to disease control.

TLC/MS characterization of prodigiosin was performed using the Advion Interchim Scientific® Plate Express™ Automated TLC Plate Reader and expression® Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS).