A history of mass spectrometry in IOCB

A history of mass spectrometry at IOCB started in the early sixties of the last century when the first mass spectrometer was purchased. Two mass spectrometers MX-1303 were imported from the Soviet Union due to Prof. František Šorm, a former director of IOCB. Both instruments were initially located in the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Praha - Vinohrady. One instrument was operated by Dr. Vladimír Hanuš, the second one by Dr. Ladislav Dolejš from IOCB. In 1967 one MX-1303 has been moved to IOCB in Praha-Dejvice. Under Dr. Dolejš supervision mass spectra of many compounds of natural as well as synthetic origin were measured. The MX-1303 had a heated-reservoir inlet designed for the analysis of petroleum products; the upper mass limit was ~600 Da with the resolution of 450. The mass spectra were recorded using a strip-chart recorder. The scanning was slow and analyses were sometimes difficult to reproduce, however, mass spectrometry has proven competent for structure elucidation of organic substances. Numerous quality and so far cited publications focused on mass spectrometry of naturally occurring compounds, particularly alkaloids, were published at that time.

A new mass spectrometer MS902 (Associated Electric Industry) was purchased in 1969. At that time it was probably the best mass spectrometer on the market. This high-resolution double focusing instrument had a maximum resolution of 70 000 and was capable to measure ion masses with accuracy below to 3 ppm. The instrument equipped for electron ionization possessed an inlet for gas chromatograph, though only with packed columns at that time. The GC/MS instrumentation enabled expansion of pheromone chemistry and identification of volatile compounds from plants and insect. The mass spectra were plotted on UV-sensitive paper at three different sensitivities. To make nice-looking spectra for publications, the peak intensities were manually measured using a ruler and processed by one of the first computers in IOCB. MS902 was located in the basement of the IOCB main building, room 3.

In 1983 Dr. Karel Ubik became the head of the MS Group. Organic mass spectrometry quickly developed. New ionization techniques as well as tandem MS/MS techniques were introduced. To keep pace with quick MS development, ZAB-EQ (VG analytical) sector mass spectrometer was purchased in 1987. Increasing importance of mass spectrometry made the MS group to grow rapidly. Dr. Karel Ubik and his group studied many organic compounds. Numerous natural compounds were identified by mass spectrometry, including volatile compounds, hydrocarbons and terpenes, flavonoids, saponins, steroids, alkaloids, peptides and others. Drugs synthesized in IOCB, including those with incredible biological functions, were studied in his laboratory. Analysis of biomolecules soon got into focus. MALDI-TOF spectrometer Reflex IV together with an automatic gel spot picker and digest station Proteineer (all Bruker) was purchased in 2002. The instruments are used for peptide mass fingerprinting as well as for other compounds.

To study complex mixtures of natural compounds, new instrumentation for direct GC/MS and LC/MS was needed. The first gas chromatograph coupled to mass spectrometer was purchased in 1992. The quadrupole spectrometer MD800 (Fisons), originally came with GC 8000 (Fisons) and it was later upgraded with Focus GC (Thermo). An ion trap GC/MS Saturn 2000R (Varian) was installed in 2000. Even higher separation power and sensitivity provides GC/MS instrument Pegasus 4D (Leco) purchased in 2004. It is two-dimensional chromatograph coupled to fast scanning TOF analyzer. It is used for demanding analysis of trace organic compounds in complex mixtures. All these GC/MS instruments have been located in laboratories of The Infochemicals Group and they are still in service. The first LC/MS instrument, an ion-trap spectrometer LCQ Classic (Finnigan) coupled to TSP HPLC was purchased in 1999. More sensitive spectrometer featuring exact mass measurement capability was installed 2004. Q-Tof micro with nanoelectrospray ion source coupled to CapLC HPLC serves mainly for analysing peptides, proteins and protein digests.

Since August 2005 the MS group is headed by Josef Cvačka.

Mass spectrometry in IOCB have developed due to the many people working here with the instruments and involved in MS projects. We would like to thank to all of them (in alphabetic order): Ladislav Dolejš, Martin Duszek, Jana Hodačová, Aleš Jirásek, Jaroslav Jirmus, Marta Kabelíková, Milan Kempný, Jitka Kohoutová, Ludmila Lišková, Jan Malát, Jana Nezbedová, Ivana Přichystalová, Petra Šlechtická, Lenka Tipková, Antonín Trka, Karel Ubik, Tomáš Vaisar, Milada Vokáčová, and Klaudie Vyčítalová-Bartová.