Analytical unit of the school of Pharmacy

Mass spectrometry

The analytical unit of the School of Pharmacy offers analytical chemistry method development and analysis services for the researchers and our collaborators in mass spectrometry, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and inorganic chemistry.
focuses on development and use of mass spectrometry based methods in metabolite, drug, and protein analysis. These analyses are related to wide variety of research projects in the areas of medicine, biology, drug development, nutrition, and environmental sciences.
The unit has developed methods for targeted quantitative analyses of various compounds. The methods available at the center (in co-operation with School of Pharmacy) are based on long-term experience in the analysis of specific compounds or compound groups with wide range of instrumentation (LC-MS/MS, GC-MS, HPLC-UV/DAD, HPLC-ECD). The development and validation of these methods follows the international quality guidelines.
The high-resolution mass spectrometers are used for screening and identification of unknown substances in the samples. LC separation with accurate mass measurement and MS/MS fragmentation is the method of choice for screening of unknown and predicted compounds in biological, pharmaceutical, and environmental samples. This instrument technique is also used for non-targeted metabolite profiling, i.e., metabolomics and/or lipidomics studies. Identification is based on measurement of the elemental composition, isotopic pattern, use of MS/MS data banks, and comparison with pure standards.
In addition to non-targeted metabolite profiling, this technology may be used in studies involving drug metabolism, detection of endogenic compounds or pollutants in biological samples, analysis of plant chemicals, or analysis of degradants and extractables/leachable in pharmaceutical packing materials, in process control, and in analysis of environmental contaminants.

NMR spectroscopy

The other research area of the unit is NMR spectroscopy where the research is focused on the metabolomics, structure research and quantitative analysis of drugs and other low molecular weight organic compounds. Our analyses serve wide range of research projects on the area of pharmacy, medicine, physical and environmental sciences.
The analytical unit has developed methods for quantitative NMR spectroscopy applications for chemical and environmental analysis, as well as metabolic profiling of biological samples. The quantitative nature of NMR spectroscopy enables a variety of studies ranging from impurity analysis to drug stability testing. Two-dimensional NMR techniques can be utilized in structure determination and verification. NMR instrumentation consists of two Bruker 600 MHz NMR spectrometers equipped with cryogenically cooled probes (Prodigy TCI & Prodigy BBO). Both of the systems have an automatic cooled sample changer (SampleJet) that has five positions for NMR tube racks. Each NMR tube rack has positions for 96 NMR tubes.