RBGKEW/868 DART-HRMS

Tender description

A solution to enable the recording of high-resolution mass spectrum (MS) 'fingerprints' directly from fragments of wood. These MS fingerprints will support the identification of the species from which the wood was obtained to assist the enforcement of EU/UK timber regulations. This work will be done as part of a consortium of laboratories who are members of the WorldForestID programme. To be effective for this purpose, the MS fingerprints recorded at Kew must be comparable with an existing database (ForeST) of over 16,000 wood MS fingerprints that the consortium will use and which was compiled using the ambient ionisation technique of Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART®) in combination with a JEOL 'AccuTOF' high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS).