Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscop analytical applications

Perhaps the most revolutionary development has been the application of on-line mass spectroscopic detection for compositional analysis. Polymer composition can be inferred from column retention time or from viscometric and other indirect detection methods, but mass spectroscopy has reduced much of the ambiguity associated with that process. Quantitation of end groups and of co-polymer composition can now be accomplished directly through mass spectroscopy. Mass spectroscopy is particularly well suited as an on-line GPC technique, since common GPC solvents interfere with other on-line detectors, including UV-VIS absorbance, nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopic detectors. By contrast, common GPC solvents are readily adaptable to mass spectroscopic interfaces. No detection technique offers a combination of universality of analyte detection, specificity of information, and ease of use comparable to that of mass spectroscopy. 

Several modem analytical instruments are powerful tools for the characterisation of end groups. Molecular spectroscopic techniques are commonly employed for this purpose. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS), often in combination, can be used to elucidate the end group structures for many polymer systems more traditional chemical methods, such as titration, are still in wide use, but employed more for specific applications, for example, determining acid end group levels. Nowadays, NMR spectroscopy is usually the first technique employed, providing the polymer system is soluble in organic solvents, as quantification of the levels of... 

Modern spectroscopy plays an important role in pharmaceutical analysis. Historically, spectroscopic techniques such as infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS) were used primarily for characterization of drug substances and structure elucidation of synthetic impurities and degradation products. Because of the limitation in specificity (spectral and chemical interference) and sensitivity, spectroscopy alone has assumed a much less important role than chromatographic techniques in quantitative analytical applications. However, spectroscopy offers the significant advantages of simple sample preparation and expeditious operation. 

Due to the complexity of DOM fractionation has revealed more detailed information on the structural subunits prior to the application of advanced analytical methods. Most effective is the combination of different spectroscopic methods using UV-vis absorbance, fluorescence, 1H- and 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance, and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. In some studies, also electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) is used (e.g., Chen et al., 2002). 

As an analytical spectroscopic technique, EPR is similar in concept to the more widely used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy [see NMR Overview of Applications in Chemical Biology]. In fact, EPR and NMR are complementary to each other. Both techniques detect magnetic moments, hut NMR determines the chemical stmctures in solution, whereas EPR describes more precisely the electronic and chemical structures of a particular region of the biological system, such as electron transfer centers, metal ions, and an intermediate state of the enzyme or substrate. It is not possible to present a full description of the theory of EPR in an article with this scope. Therefore, only sufficient information is provided here to enable the readers to understand the practical aspects of this analytical tool in enzymology. 

The hydrocarbon ("oil") fraction of a coal pyrolysis tar prepared by open column liquid chromatography (LC) was separated into 16 subfractions by a second LC procedure. Low voltage mass spectrometry (MS), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and proton (PMR) as well as carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry (CMR) were performed on the first 13 subfractions. Computerized multivariate analysis procedures such as factor analysis followed by canonical correlation techniques were used to extract the overlapping information from the analytical data. Subsequent evaluation of the integrated analytical data revealed chemical information which could not have been obtained readily from the individual spectroscopic techniques. The approach described is generally applicable to multisource analytical data on pyrolysis oils and other complex mixtures. 

The derivatization of analytes is very important in several branches of analytical chemistry. It expands the fields of application of various spectroscopic techniques (ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), fluorimetry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectroscopies), and in several cases increases also the selectivity and sensitivity of these techniques. Derivatization is also an inevitable tool in all chromatographic and electrophoretic techniques. In gas chromatography (GC), the main importance of derivatization is the improvement of the volatility/thermal stability of the analytes, and in all of the discussed separation techniques it has the potential of increasing the selectivity of the separation (including enantiomeric separations) and the sensitivity of the detection. 

If the objective is identification (qualitative analysis), it suffices to compare the spectrum of the analyte with that of a standard, both recorded in the same solvent and at an identical pH. This is not the main application of UV-Vis spectrophotometry as the best results in this context are provided by spectroscopic methods considered more effective for the study of the molecular structure of organic compounds (infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and X-ray diffraction). However, UV-Vis spectrophotometry is a source of relevant supplementary information that helps in the elucidation of molecular structures of drugs, impurities, metabolites, intermediate compounds of degradation, etc. 

Analytical methods involving exhaustive extraction of flavor compounds (i.e., liquid/liquid extraction, dynamic headspace) do not take these matrix effects into account. However, new instrumentation and methodologies are yielding improved information on the mechanisms involved in flavor/matrix interactions and the effects on flavor perception. For example, spectroscopic techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), can provide information on complex formation as a function of chemical environment and have been used to study both intra- and intermolecular interactions in model systems [28,31]. In addition, NMR techniques, initially developed to study ligand binding for biological and pharmaceutical applications, were applied in 2002 to model food systems to screen flavor mixtures and identify those compounds that will bind to macromolecules such as proteins and tannins [32]. Flavor release in the mouth can be simulated with analytical tools such as the retronasal aroma simulator (RAS) developed by Roberts and Acree [33]. These release cells can provide... 

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