Dr Mark Barrow

Reader of Chemistry

M.P.Barrow@warwick.ac.uk
+44 (0)24 761 51013
Dr Mark Barrow Research GroupLink opens in a new window

About Me

Mark's research is based upon the application of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry and new data processing approaches to the study of complex mixtures, particularly for energy, sustainability, transport, archaeology, and the environment. One area of interest has been termed "petroleomics," which is the molecular characterization of the components of petroleum using ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry.

Collaborative work with industry, academia, and the public sector is a key part of this multidisciplinary approach. One example is a long-standing collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada, where the focus is upon developing analytical approaches for monitoring the potential environmental impact of the oil sands industry in the Athabasca region of Alberta, Canada. Another example is collaboration with the British Geological Survey to understand current and historical anthropogenic impact upon the environment, with samples coming from Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Groups at Warwick

Dr Mark Barrow research GroupLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window

Affiliations

British Mass Spectrometry Society (BMSS)
- Elected member of the committee and a trustee, currently General Secretary
American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS)
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC): MSRC CChem
- RSC: Analytical Methods: Instrumental Analysis Expert Working Group
Energy Institute (EI)

Biography

2022-Present: Reader
2019-2022: Associate Professor
2017-2019: Principal Research Fellow
2013-2017: Senior Research Fellow

Research interests

I am currently interested in the following areas:

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS)
Complex mixture analysis, including sample extraction, sample preparation, ionization, and characterization
Petroleum (crude oil and fractions, including asphaltenes)
Fuels
Biofuels and bio-oils
Environmental samples
Archaeological samples
New data processing algorithms
Data analysis and visualization methods

Teaching and supervision

Postgraduate teaching

Director of the Analytical Sciences and Instrumentation (ASI) MSc course: 2022 - Present
Module lead for CH915 (Techniques in Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis): 2022 - Present
Lecturer for CH908 (Mass spectrometry): 2012 - Present
Lecturer for CH921 (Frontier Techniques in Analytical Science): 2014 - Present
Supervisor for CH985 (MSc Research Project) for AS:MIT and ASI: 2013 - Present

Undergraduate teaching

Module lead for Year 4 and CH401: 2025 - Present
Lecturer for CH3H1 (Analytical Science for Global Challenges): 2025 - Present
Supervisor of CH401 project student: 2017 - 2024, 2025 - Present
CH155 (Practical and Professional Chemistry Skills I): 2019 - Present
CH165 (Chemical Change) tutorials: 2024 - Present
CH275 (Molecular Structure) tutorials: 2024 - Present
CH3G0 (Extended Laboratory): 2018 - Present
CH280 (Chemistry for Sustainability) presentations: 2025
Module lead for CH3F2 (Advanced Analytical Chemistry): 2019 - 2025
Module lead for CH401 (Research Project & Methodology): 2019 - 2022
CH162 tutorials (Introduction to Physical Chemistry): 2019 - 2022
Lecturer for CH3F7/CH416 (Energy): 2016 - 2023

Please see the Barrow Group pages for a fuller listing of present and past group members. I am supervising the following PhD students:

Latifa Alostad
Benedict Gannon
Samuel Mutto
Haokai Wang
Sanugi Dassanayake

Recent group members:

Dr. Rory P. Downham
Dr. Hugh E. Jones
Dr. Mary J. Thomas
Dr. Rémy Gavard

We are happy to take on further PhD students via one of the CDTs, industrial sponsorship, overseas scholarships, or other funding. Please feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss the options.

Publications

Selected publications

A more complete list can be found on research group publications page (http://warwick.ac.uk/barrowgroup/).

Tracking the history of polycyclic aromatic compounds in London through a River Thames sediment core and ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry, Rory P. Downham, Benedict Gannon, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Hugh E. Jones, Christopher H. Vane, and Mark P. Barrow, J. Hazard. Mater., 2024, 473, 134605

Environmental petroleomics - Application of ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry for molecular-level understanding of the fate of spilled oils, Thamina Acter, Seungwoo Son, Donghwi Kim, Un Hyuk Yim, Mark P. Barrow, Quan Shi, Nizam Uddin, and Sunghwan Kim,Trends Environ. Anal. Chem., 2023, 40, e00212

Analytical Chemistry Solutions to Hazard Evaluation of Petroleum Refining Products, Alina T. Roman-Hubers, Alexandra C. Cordova, Mark P. Barrow, and Ivan Rusyn,Regul. Toxicol. Pharmacol.,2023,137, 105310

Investigating the Influence of n-Heptane versus n-Nonane upon the Extraction of Asphaltenes, Latifa K. Alostad, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Benedict Gannon, Rory P. Downham, Hugh E. Jones, and Mark P. Barrow, Energy Fuels, 2022, 36, 16, pp. 8663-8673

Solvent and Flow Rate Effects on the Observed Compositional Profiles and the Relative Intensities of Radical and Protonated Species in Atmospheric Pressure Photoionization Mass Spectrometry, Mary J. Thomas, Ho Yi Holly Chan, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, and Mark P. Barrow, Anal. Chem., 2022, 94, pp. 4954–4960

Revealing the Reactivity of Individual Chemical Entities in Complex Mixtures: the Chemistry Behind Bio-Oil Upgrading, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Hugh E. Jones, Remy Gavard, Mary J. Thomas, Claudia X. Ramírez, Christopher A. Wootton, José Aristóbulo Sarmiento Chaparro, Peter B. O’Connor, Simon E. F. Spencer, David Rossell, Enrique Mejia-Ospino, Matthias Witt, and Mark P. Barrow, Anal. Chem., 2022, 94, pp. 7536–7544

Unlocking the potential of biofuels via reaction pathways in van Krevelen diagrams, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Hugh E. Jones, Tomas Ramirez Reina, Roberto Volpe, and Mark P. Barrow, Green Chem., 2021, 23, pp. 8949-8963

Influence of Biodiesel on Base Oil Oxidation as Measured by FTICR Mass Spectrometry, Hugh E. Jones, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Chris Huener, Mary J. Thomas, David Aaserud, J. Corinne Demuth, Mathew P. Robin, and Mark P. Barrow, Energy Fuels, 2021, 35, 15, 35, 15, pp. 11896–11908

Comprehensive analysis of multiple asphaltene fractions combining statistical analyses and novel visualization tools, Mary J. Thomas, Hugh E. Jones, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Rémy Gavard, Shaun Carney, and Mark P. Barrow, Fuel, 2021, 291, 120132

An international laboratory comparison of dissolved organic matter composition by high resolution mass spectrometry: Are we getting the same answer?, Jeffrey A. Hawkes, Juliana D’Andrilli, Rachel L. Sleighter, Hongmei Chen, Patrick G. Hatcher, Amna Ijaz, Maryam Khaksari, Simeon Schum, Lynn Mazzoleni, Rosalie K. Chu, Nikola Tolic, William Kew, Nancy Hess, Jitao Lv, Shuzhen Zhang, Chen He, Quan Shi, Ryan H. S. Hutchins, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Rémy Gavard, Hugh E. Jones, Mary J. Thomas, Mark P. Barrow, Helena Osterholz, Thorsten Dittmar, Carsten Simon, Gerd Gleixner, Stephanie M. Berg, Christina K. Remucal, Núria Catalán, Richard B. Cole, Beatriz E. Noriega-Ortega, Gabriel Singer, Nikola Radoman, Nicholas D. Schmitt, Aron Stubbins, Jeffrey N. Agar, Phoebe Zito, David C. Podgorski, Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 2020, 18, pp. 235-258

Petroleomics: Tools, Challenges, and Developments, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Mary J. Thomas, Hugh E. Jones, and Mark P. Barrow, Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry, 2020, 13, in press

KairosMS: A New Solution for the Processing of Hyphenated Ultrahigh Resolution Mass Spectrometry Data, Rémy Gavard, Hugh E. Jones, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Mary J. Thomas, David Rossell, Simon E. F. Spencer, Mark P. Barrow, Anal. Chem., 2020, 92 (5), pp. 3775-3786.

Characterization of bio-crude components derived from pyrolysis of soft wood and its esterified product by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and spectroscopic techniques, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Claudia X. Ramírez, José Aristóbulo Sarmiento Chaparro, Mary J. Thomas, Rémy Gavard, Hugh E. Jones, Rafael Cabanzo Hernández, Enrique Mejia-Ospino, Mark P. Barrow, Fuel, 2020, 259, art. no. 116085.

Rhapso: Automatic Stitching of Mass Segments from Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectra, Rémy Gavard, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Guzman, A., David Rossell, Simon E. F. Spencer, Mark P. Barrow, Anal. Chem., 2019, 91 (23), pp. 15130-15137

Pushing the analytical limits: new insights into complex mixtures using mass spectra segments of constant ultrahigh resolving power, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Remy Gavard, Juan P. Arenas-Diaz, Mary J. Thomas, David D. Stranz, Enrique Mejía-Ospino, Alexander Guzman, Simon E. F. Spencer, David Rossell, and Mark P. Barrow, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10 (29), pp. 6966-6978

Petroleomic depth profiling of Staten Island salt marsh soil: 2ω detection FTICR MS offers a new solution for the analysis of environmental contaminants, Mary J. Thomas, Emma Collinge, Matthias Witt, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Christopher H. Vane, Vicky Moss-Hayes, and Mark P. Barrow, Science of The Total Environment, 2019, 662, pp. 852-862

Characterization of oil sands naphthenic acids by negative-ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry: Influence of acidic versus basic transfer solvent, Kerry M. Peru, Mary J. Thomas, Diana Catalina Palacio Lozano, Dena W. McMartin, John V. Headley, and Mark P. Barrow, Chemosphere, 2019, 222, pp. 1017-1024

Themis: Batch Preprocessing for Ultrahigh-Resolution Mass Spectra of Complex Mixtures, Remy Gavard, David Rossell, Simon E. F. Spencer, and Mark P. Barrow, Anal. Chem., 2017, 89, 21, pp. 11383-11390

Key bioactive reaction products of the NO/H2S interaction are S/N-hybrid species, polysulfides, and nitroxyl, Miriam M. Cortese-Krott, Gunter G. C. Kuhnle, Alex Dyson, Bernadette O. Fernandez, Marian Grman, Jenna F. DuMond, Mark P. Barrow, George McLeod, Hidehiko Nakagawa, Karol Ondrias, Péter Nagy, S. Bruce King, Joseph E. Saavedra, Larry K. Keefer, Mervyn Singer, Malte Kelm, Anthony R. Butler, and Martin Feelisch, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 2015, 112, pp. E4651-E4660

An Added Dimension: GC Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization FTICR MS and the Athabasca Oil Sands, Mark P. Barrow, Kerry M. Peru, and John V. Headley, Anal. Chem., 2014, 86, pp. 8281–8288

Throwing Light on Petroleum: Simulated Exposure of Crude Oil to Sunlight and Characterization Using Atmospheric Pressure Photoionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, Matthew T. Griffiths, Raffaello Da Campo, Peter B. O'Connor, and Mark P. Barrow, Anal. Chem., 2014, 86, pp. 527-534

Application of Phase Correction to Improve the Interpretation of Crude Oil Spectra Obtained Using 7 T Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, Yunju Cho, Yulin Qi, Peter B. O’Connor, Mark P. Barrow, Sunghwan Kim, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 2014, 25, pp. 154-157

Chemical Fingerprinting of Oil Sands Naphthenic Acids in Environmental Samples - A Review of Analytical Methods, John V. Headley, Kerry M. Peru, Richard A. Frank, Jonathan W. Martin, Roderick R. O. Hazewinkle, David Humphries, Narine P. Gurprasad, L. Mark Hewitt, Derek C. G. Muir, Dorothy Lindeman, Richard Strub, Rozlyn F. Young, David M. Grewer, Randy M. Whittal, Phillip M. Fedorak, D. A. Birkholz, Ralph Hindle, Rick Reisdorph, Xiaomeng Wang, Kim Kasperski, C. Hamilton, M. Woudneh, G. Wang, Barry Loescher, Andrea Farwell, D. George Dixon, Matthew Ross, Alberto Dos Santos Pereira, Emily King, Mark P. Barrow, Brian Fahlman, Jonathan Bailey, Dena W. McMartin, Christoph H. Borchers, C. H. Ryan, N. S.Toor, H. Martin Gillis, L. Zuin, G. Bickerton, M. McMaster, Ed Sverko, Dayue Shang, and Fred J. Wrona, J. Environ. Science and Health, Part A, 2013, 48, pp. 1145-1163

Preliminary fingerprinting of Athabasca oil sands polar organics in environmental samples using electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry, John V. Headley, Mark P. Barrow, Kerry M. Peru, Brian Fahlman, Richard A. Frank, Gregory Bickerton, Mark E. McMaster, Joanne Parrott, and L. Mark Hewitt, Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom., 2011, 25, pp. 1899-1909

Petroleomics: study of the old and the new, Mark P. Barrow, Biofuels, 2010, 1, pp. 651-655 (Invited editorial)

Athabasca oil sands process water: characterization by atmospheric pressure photoionization and electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry, Mark P. Barrow, Matthias Witt, John V. Headley, and Kerry M. Peru, Anal. Chem., 2010, 82, pp. 3727-3735

Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Naphthenic Acids in Environmental Samples: A Review, John V. Headley, Kerry M. Peru, and Mark P. Barrow, Mass Spectrom. Rev., 2009, 28, pp. 121-134

Characterization of Naphthenic Acid Singly Charged Noncovalent Dimers and Their Dependence on the Accumulation Time within a Hexapole in Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, Raffaello Da Campo, Mark P. Barrow, Andrew G. Shepherd, Malcolm Salisbury, and Peter J. Derrick, Energy Fuels, 2009, 23, pp. 5544-5549

Data Visualization for the Characterization of Naphthenic Acids within Petroleum Samples, Mark P. Barrow, John V. Headley, Kerry M. Peru, and Peter J. Derrick, Energy Fuels, 2009, 23, pp. 2592-2599

Characterization of Naphthenic Acids from Athabasca Oil Sands Using Electrospray Ionization: The Significant Influence of Solvents, John V. Headley, Kerry M. Peru, Mark P. Barrow, and Peter J. Derrick, Anal. Chem., 2007, 79, pp. 6222-6229

Principles of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry and its application in structural biology, Mark P. Barrow, William I. Burkitt, and Peter J. Derrick, Analyst, 2005, 130, pp. 18-28

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry of principal components in oilsands naphthenic acids, Mark P. Barrow, John V. Headley, Kerry M. Peru, and Peter J. Derrick, J. Chrom. A, 2004, 1058, pp. 51-59

Determination of the Nature of Naphthenic Acids Present in Crude Oils Using Nanospray Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry: The Continued Battle Against Corrosion, Mark P. Barrow, Liam A. McDonnell, Xidong Feng, Jérémie Walker, and Peter J. Derrick, Anal. Chem., 2003, 75, pp. 860-866