A phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance method has been developed f
or the determination of aquatic sediment phospholipid profiles that ma
y be generally applied to all soils and deposits containing viable cel
lular material. A method of scrubbing chloroform/methanol extracts wit
h potassium acid phosphate overcomes adverse signal broadening from th
e mineral component, permitting eleven sediment phospholipids to be de
termined at the quantitative level.