Benchtop high-resolution NMR systems are available at a number of field strengths and probe configurations. However beyond the obvious academic instruction market for these instruments very few applications have been demonstrated across all available platforms and thus proving the general applicability of benchtop NMR technology to industrial quality control. We will present two chemometric-based applications that have been developed at 4 different field strengths utilizing Varian Mercury 300 MHz, Magritek Spinsolve 42 MHz, Aspect AI 60 MHz, and Thermo Picospin 80 MHz NMR systems. Partial-least-squares (PLS) regression correlations were obtained on all 4 platforms relating to:
1) Omega-3 fatty acid composition of samples taken from various points in a nutritional supplement manufacturing process. Excellent correlations were obtained on all 4 NMR instruments proving that NMR technology is applicable to in-lab, at-line. or on-line analysis of fish oil derived omega-3 fatty acid supplements. The 40 second NMR analysis effectively replaces a 60+ minute GC analysis.
2) Physical and chemical property determination of diesel fuels where excellent correlations were obtained between 1H NMR variability and parameters such as density, aromatic content by GC, hydrogen content by 1H TD-NMR (ASTM D7171 method), and sulfur content. Many more physical and chemical properties can be correlated to the 1H NMR spectrum allowing a single 40 second NMR experiment to predict 10-15 parameters that each require dedicated analyzers.
Finally, we will present the concept and initial results from an independent server-based NMR application software that can be utilized in conjunction with the NMR software of the current benchtop NMR systems, or alternatively as a stand-alone application platform. This software would effectively make chemometric and direct measurement NMR application ubiquitous across all NMR platforms.
A link to this presentation in PDF form is given here: PLS-Regression – 300_80_60_43 MHz NMR of Fish Oil Supplements and Diesel Fuel