OzID method provides detailed molecular data

Invented by researchers within the schools of chemistry and health sciences, the method of Ozone Induced Dissociation (known as OzID) provides detailed information about molecular structure that is unavailable from traditional methods of mass spectrometry.

’OzID first harnesses the power of mass spectrometry to separate one compound out of literally hundreds on the basis of mass, then uses ozone like a pair of molecular scissors to cut the molecule at a particular position, namely a double bond,’ according to one of OzID’s co-inventors Associate Professor Stephen Blanksby from the university’s school of chemistry.

’This allows us to unambiguously assign the structure of the compound and importantly differentiate molecules that differ only by the position of their double bonds,’ Prof Blanksby said.

’Examples of molecules where this analysis will be particularly useful are lipids where the double bond position, usually labelled as omega-3 or omega-6, can have a dramatic effect on nutritional or physiological properties.’