Chromatography, Mass Spectrometry and Sampling-CroMasS

Description

CroMasS research is focused on the development and application of new analytical methods based on mass spectrometry, coupled to chromatographic techniques, for the determination of organic compounds in environmental and food matrices.

Particular attention is paid to the sampling and sample preparation step, testing recent and innovative technologies. The considered species are pollutants of proven toxicity, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and species of recent interest of the international community, i.e. emerging contaminants (e.g. pharmaceuticals, perfluoroalkyl substances, UV-filters).

The group is also expert of Design of Experiment and other Chemometric techniques

Scientific Coordinator

MAGI Emanuele (Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI))

ERC field

PE4- Physical and Analytical Chemical Sciences

ERC subfields:

PE4_5 - Analytical chemistry
PE4_9 - Method development in chemistry
PE4_18 - Environment chemistry
PE4_2 - Spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques
PE4_7 - Chemical instrumentation

Team members

Surname	Name	Affiliation	Position	Field
DI CARRO	Marina	Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), UniGe	Associate Professor	CHEM-01/A
BENEDETTI	Barbara	Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), UniGe	Researcher	CHEM-01/A
MACKEOWN	Henry	Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), UniGe	Post-doc	CHEM-01/A
BAGLIETTO	Matteo	Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), UniGe	PhD student XXXVII cycle	CHEM-01/A
GAMBETTA VIANNA	Julia	Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), UniGe Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice	PhD student XXXIX cycle	CHEM-01/A
CECCARDI	Erica	Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), UniGe	PhD student XL cycle	CHEM-01/A
BONA	Daniel	Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI), UniGe	PhD student XL cycle	CHEM-01/A

Others

Gianluca Pusceddu - Tecnico - DCCI

Projects

PRIN2022 project (Feb 2025-Feb 2027): EXWASTER- EXploitation of targeted and untargeted analytical strategies for WASTEwateR monitoring: toward a sustainable water management according to the principles of circular economy.
Financed by Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca.
EXWASTER aims at developing innovative analytical methods to verify the quality of the reclaimed water and give wastewater a high added-value. To achieve this goal, the synergistic use of targeted and untargeted methodologies is proposed, to monitor both inorganic (metals, ionic species) and organic (emerging contaminants) compounds, as well as to predict water quality, based on simple and fast approaches. Multivariate data analysis and experimental design techniques will be employed in each step of the whole strategy, in order to extract all the useful knowledge from the different sources of information. For the development and the validation of the proposed methodologies, wastewaters at different treatment stages, coming from national wastewater treatment plants, will be investigated.
The activities of the UniGe research unit, coordinated by dr. Barbara Benedetti, involve the use of Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Samplers (POCIS) for the monitoring of emerging pollutants. The POCIS extracts will be used for targeted and untargeted LC-MS analyses, while part of the sorbent phase contained in the POCIS wil be used for innovative spectroscopic investigations.
PNRR project (2023-2025): RETURN- Multi-Risk sciEnce for resilienT commUnities undeR a changiNg climate
The aim of RETURN is to improve the understanding of environmental, natural and anthropic risks, as well as their relation with climate change, in the perspective of prevention, adaptation and mitigation. These goals can be achieved by developing new methodologies and technologies for evironmental monitoring.
The activities of CroMasS group within the RETURN project, coordinated by prof. Emanuele Magi, involve the analysis of different samples from the Genoa harbor area, by exploiting passive sampling and spot sampling. Emerging contaminants are determined by LC-MS, more specifically by using the cutting-edge instrumentation Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography-quadrupole-Time Of Flight high resolution mass spectrometry.