Robert E. Synovec

( Professor of Chemistry)
(Analytical, Ph.D., Iowa State University, 1986)

(206) 685-2328
synovec@chem.washington.edu
Research Group Website

Research Interests

The Synovec group is working in the area of analytical chemistry, centered upon fundamental studies and applications of separation science. Primarily, the group works in the areas of gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) instrumentation, sensors, analytical methodology, chemical measurement science and multivariate data analysis (chemometrics). Overall, the research group seeks to find a better fundamental understanding of the right balance of chemical separation and mathematical separation required in order to optimally glean the desired chemical information from analytical separation data. Applications in many exciting areas such as metabolomics, petroleum-based fuels, biofuels and environmental systems are being explored.

In the area of GC, the fields of multi-dimensional GC and chemometric data analysis are being integrated. Valve-based, comprehensive two-dimensional GC instrumentation with time-of flight mass spectrometry detection (GC x GC-TOFMS) has been recently developed, providing separations of complex samples. More recently, we are using a thermally modulated GC x GC-TOFMS instrument. The GC x GC-TOFMS data is ideally suited for chemometric (multivariate) data analysis. Using the chemometric method PARAFAC, analytes of interest are deconvoluted (i.e., mathematically separated) and identified, in the presence of unknown interferences, from a single GC x GC-TOFMS data set, under conditions in which only partial selectivity is provided in any one of the three separation dimensions. Recently, we have automated the PARAFAC algorithm using a graphical user interface (GUI). This GUI, as well as other chemometric software we have developed, considerably strengthen our ability to provide valuable insight into complex samples analyzed by GC x GC-TOFMS. This research has been currently extended with novel pattern recognition and discovery-based methods for rapid classification and screening applications, eg., for bio-analytical metabolomics, petroleum-based fuels, biofuels, and environmental studies. Very recently, the group has developed a comprehensive three-dimensional gas chromatography instrument (GC x GC x GC), which provides interesting opportunities to study selectivity advantages of three separation dimensions working in concert. 

Concurrently, work in the area of ultra-high speed GC has been pioneered, with separations on the time scale of a chemical sensor (eg., separations under a few seconds). This work, in the general area of “GC-on-a-chip,” has involved the study and use of novel single walled carbon nanotube stationary phases within the GC-chip channel structure combined with rapid resistive heating to do rapid temperature programming. For example, GC separations of ten chemical components have been separated in a fraction of one second, and temperature programming rates of 100 oC/second are readily achieved.

In the area of LC-related measurements, microfabricated chemical analyzers have recently been developed, such as a microfabricated LC, optimizing separation and detection performance by integrating sample injection, separation and multi-dimensional detection within a single device. In related work, a chip-based sensor that measures molecular mass (as correlated through analyte diffusion coefficient) has been developed, having applications for rapid polymer and protein analysis. Considerable interest is in having a better theoretical understanding of the molecular mass sensor that, in turn, will lead to better sensor design and performance. This “molecular mass” sensor is often applied in concert with size-exclusion chromatography. Additionally, a dynamic surface tension detector (DSTD) has been developed for rapid characterization of surface-active species in liquid environments. The DSTD is designed to couple to flow injection analysis and LC instrumentation. The DSTD is a unique chemical analysis tool that shows considerable promise for the characterization of surfactants, polymers and proteins.