It is well known that NMR analysis requires a higher concentration of analyte than any other spectroscopic method. For example, UV-Vis requires an analyte concentration range of only nM to µM, while NMR typically requires the analyte to be in the mM range (>1000 times more concentrated!). In this blog, we will demonstrate why NMR is considerably less sensitive than UV-Vis. We have chosen UV-Vis for this comparison as it is widely recognized as one of the most sensitive spectroscopic techniques.

This year, to bring out that Christmas spirit inside of everyone, I would like to talk about Santa Claus. Now, I know there are a plethora of Christmas treats out there that you will be making, but for the big man flying through the skies, there is one treat that stands head and shoulders above all else. I’m talking, of course, about cookies. However, with the never-ending list of cookies the big question becomes: which one are you making for Santa? With this blog, I might be able to provide you with a little bit of guidance.

The use of lithium around the world has increased drastically in recent years due to the superior performance of lithium-ion batteries. These batteries are heavily used in everyday life as they are present in our phones, computers, watches, vehicles, and many more devices. However, before these batteries can be produced, we need to procure lithium from somewhere.

Tautomers are constitutional isomers that interconvert into each other by an exchange reaction, most commonly a proton transfer. Such two isomers can for example be a ketone and an enol. Keto-enol tautomerism (KET) becomes possible when there are hydrogen atoms adjacent to a carbonyl group (these hydrogen atoms are called α hydrogens). This tautomerism is depicted in Scheme 1 and is also discussed…

Have you ever been curious as to why your pumpkin spice latte doesn't taste like pumpkins? Pumpkin spice is actually a mix of spices; such as, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, etc. In this blog, we focus our attention on cinnamon, where we obtain the 1H NMR spectrum using benchtop NMR. We then compare this with known molecules that comprise cinnamon such as, cinnamic acid and cinnamaldehyde. Read more.

In this blog we will explore how a variety of acquisition parameters can affect the FID and their direct consequence in the spectrum.

Cathinone is a natural alkaloid occurring in the khat plant known for its mild stimulating effects when chewing the leaves which is of cultural importance in East Africa and the Middle East… Read more on our NMR blog

Chirality has a huge impact on the chemistry of a molecule. Due to potentially different physiological effects, pharmaceutical compounds are often used as enantiomerically pure compounds. One enantiomer can act as a healing agent, the other might be toxic to humans. Crazy, right?

It is well known that signal dispersion decreases as the NMR field strength is reduced. For example, at 400 MHz, 1 ppm spans 400 Hz while at 60 MHz, 1 ppm spans 60 Hz.

In NMR, the net magnetization is detected in the xy plane, giving rise to the FID (Free Induction Decay). The process by which the magnetization in the xy plane decays away, over time, to its equilibrium value of zero, is known as T2 relaxation, transversal relaxation, relaxation on the xy plane, or spin-spin relaxation.