m/z to Normalized Kendrick Mass Conversion
Summary
Convert m/z (mass-to-charge) values from high-resolution mass spectrometry data to Normalized Kendrick Mass (NKM) coordinates for homolog series visualization. This enables detection and display of alkane and substituted alkane patterns in Kendrick mass plots.
When to use
Apply this skill when you have uploaded peak list data containing m/z values and wish to construct a Kendrick mass plot where alkane homolog series (or other homologous families) are expected to appear as horizontal lines. Use it specifically when you need to switch between m/z and NKM as the x-axis coordinate in an interactive Kendrick visualization, or when creating multiple views of the same data in different coordinate systems.
When NOT to use
- Input data lacks m/z values or does not originate from high-resolution mass spectrometry: NKM conversion requires accurate mass data.
- Kendrick analysis is not appropriate for your molecular mixture (e.g., samples without expected homolog series or families with different mass increments than the selected base mass).
- Peak list already contains pre-computed Kendrick coordinates or is in a non-tabular format incompatible with Punc'data's keyword-based column recognition.
Inputs
- Parsed peak list with m/z column extracted from uploaded CSV/delimiter-separated file
- Intensity values corresponding to each m/z entry
- Base mass parameter (mass unit of interest, e.g. 14.0157 for CH₂)
Outputs
- Normalized Kendrick Mass (NKM) vector with decimal defect values
- m/z vector (original, passed through unchanged)
- Abscissa selection control storing user choice ('m/z' or 'NKM')
- Interactive Kendrick mass plot with selected coordinate as x-axis
How to apply
First, parse the uploaded data file and extract the m/z column, recognized by Punc'data using column keyword matching. Then compute NKM for each peak using the formula: NKM = round(m/z × base_mass) − (m/z × base_mass rounded), where base_mass is typically 14.0157 for CH₂ homolog series analysis. Create a selector control (dropdown or toggle UI element) to store the user's choice of x-axis mode. Implement conditional logic: if x-axis mode is 'm/z', pass the original m/z values to the Kendrick plot renderer; if 'NKM', pass the computed NKM column instead. Both coordinate choices should be plotted against the same intensity (y-axis) values to preserve peak heights and relative abundances.
Related tools
- Punc'data (Interactive visualization and data manager tool that recognizes m/z columns, enables selector controls for coordinate switching, and renders interactive Kendrick mass plots with user-selected abscissa.) — https://github.com/WTVoe/puncdata
- d3.js (JavaScript library used by Punc'data to implement interactive plot rendering, including dynamic axis switching.)
Evaluation signals
- NKM values fall in the expected range [0, 1) representing decimal defect (fractional mass excess).
- Peaks belonging to the same homolog series (differing by integer multiples of base_mass) appear at the same NKM y-coordinate but different m/z x-coordinates.
- When coordinate mode is toggled from 'm/z' to 'NKM', the x-axis relabels and data points reposition without loss or duplication of intensity information.
- Original m/z and NKM columns contain identical row counts and are aligned by peak index.
- Horizontal lines in NKM-mode plots confirm proper grouping of homologous compounds.
Limitations
- Accuracy of NKM calculation depends on precise m/z values; low-resolution MS data will produce unreliable homolog alignments.
- Base mass selection is user-determined and must match the actual chemical homolog series present; incorrect base_mass values will misalign homologs or produce scattered patterns.
- The skill assumes the first line of the uploaded file contains column headers and that subsequent lines represent valid m/z entries; malformed or headerless files may fail column keyword recognition.
- Interactive canvas plots require modern web browser support for d3.js rendering; very large peak lists (thousands of peaks) may experience performance degradation.
Evidence
- [other] Workflow step describing NKM calculation: "Compute Normalized Kendrick Mass (NKM) values for each peak using the formula NKM = round(m/z × base mass) − (m/z × base mass rounded), where base mass is the mass unit of interest (typically 14.0157"
- [readme] Column recognition mechanism: "Punc'data recognizes which column corresponds to which information based on keywords."
- [other] Selector control implementation: "Create a selector control (dropdown or toggle) that stores the user's choice of x-axis coordinate ('m/z' or 'NKM')."
- [other] Conditional logic for abscissa selection: "Implement conditional logic to return the selected abscissa vector: if x-axis mode is 'm/z', return the original m/z column; if 'NKM', return the computed NKM column."
- [readme] Data manager and upload capability: "To vizualise data, you need to upload a file with separation (; , ...) between the columns. You can change the separator with the gear icon"