Quantitative NMR spectroscopy of complex mixtures

Complex mixtures are ubiquitous in many branches of chemistry, be it a complex pharmaceutical formulation, a collection of biofluids analysed in a metabolomics workflow, or a flowing mixture in a reaction monitoring setting. The accurate quantitative determination of mixture components is one of the toughest challenges posed to analytical chemists, requiring the determination of often heavily overlapped signals from compounds in very diverse concentrations. NMR spectroscopists have developed an impressive variety of approaches to deal with such challenges, including the development of innovative pulse sequences, hyperpolarization methods and processing tools. We describe the most recent advances in the field of quantitative NMR, and the many subsequent application perspectives in fields where the sample complexity is a daily challenge, such as pharmaceutical science, metabolomics, isotopic analysis, and monitoring.

Automated summary

Complex mixtures are common in various fields of chemistry, presenting challenges in accurately quantifying their components. NMR spectroscopists have developed diverse approaches to tackle these challenges, including innovative pulse sequences, hyperpolarization methods, and processing tools. This article discusses the recent advances in quantitative NMR and their applications in pharmaceutical science, metabolomics, isotopic analysis, and monitoring.