Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy laboratory

NMR detects the chemical environment of atomic nuclei by the absorption of radio waves in the presence of a high magnetic field, thus allowing chemical structure determination.

NMR is a powerful technique that is used frequently across Forensic Science and Biology where chemicals are analysed to elucidate the molecular structure of the sample whether it is a newly synthesised chemical, drug or protein for example.

NMR is also used across many other fields and industries, for example, it has been used in Sports Science and Clinical Food Science with the ability to measure metabolites or food and drink quality in near real-time. Other areas include Arts where paint has been analysed to test whether a painting is real or fraudulent.

In most cases, simple preparation is required, analysis is usually fast and is routinely used for quality assurance, quality control or product development purposes. Furthermore, qualitative analysis and quantification can be carried out on a sample. Different methods are available which are used to calculate different properties of the sample to build up a ‘three-dimensional image’.