Environmental Chemistry
Though not as sensitive as MS or GC_MS, the application of NMR in the field of environmental chemistry provides valuable and rich information about such topics as the compound structure found in the environment or the fate of fertilizers or even drugs. One of the strengths of NMR is the ability to look at samples that require minimal preparation and minimal derivatization.
NMR is used in a variety of applications such as the study of the changes in metabolism of organisms based on external influences such as climate change or exposure to toxic materials. Also of interest is the fate of compounds as they enter the environment. What happens, for example, to drugs when they are ingested by an organism or what are the metabolic products of pesticides when applied in the field?
Often, only minute quantities are available and the products with the highest specific sensitivity are the ideal accessories to your spectrometer.
For example, the 1.7 mm micro cryoprobe offers the highest mass sensitivity overall. In some cases, a single nano mole of material is sufficient to collect NMR data that allows for the identification of it. In other cases, the combination of separation techniques with small volume NMR allows for the complete characterization of novel materials found in the environment.
Recent Publications
NMR assignment of the in vivo daphnia magna metabolome.
Maryam Tabatabaei Anaraki, Daniel H. Lysak, Ronald Soong, Myrna J. Simpson, Manfred Spraul, Wolfgang Bermel, Hermann Heumann, Marcel Gundy, Holger Boenisch and André J. Simpson
Analyst, 2020