The Faculty of Environmental Engineering at Lublin University of Technology has acquired a new tandem mass spectrometer. With the device, researchers can determine and study the concentration of tens of thousands of organic compounds even when they occur in complex mixtures and their concentration is very low.

The tandem mass spectrometer is used by researchers in Lublin to test cytostatics (drugs used to fight cancer), antibiotics and selected hormones in hospital and municipal wastewater and surface water.

This type of equipment makes it possible not only to determine the content of tested molecules in complex mixtures with high sensitivity and accuracy, but also to learn a lot about the structure of the compound. “The scope of its application is wide, as we can analyse compounds weighing up to 10,000 amu (atomic mass unit), with a high resolution of approx. 60,000 amu”, explains Prof. Jacek Czerwiński from the Department of Environmental Engineering at Lublin University of Technology.