FLOW-INJECTION PROTON NUCLEAR-MAGNETIC-RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY COMBINED WITH PATTERN-RECOGNITION METHODS - IMPLICATIONS FOR RAPID STRUCTURALSTUDIES AND HIGH-THROUGHPUT BIOCHEMICAL SCREENING

The applicability of novel NMR flow probe technology has been tested b y the measurement of 300 MHz H-1 NMR spectra of a series of rat urine samples, Compared with conventional automatic operation, the method re sulted in a significantly increased rate of sample throughput, require d minimal spectrometer optimisation before each measurement and avoide d the need for expensive and fragile NMR sample tubes, The NMR approac h has been coupled with computer methods for spectral data reduction a nd classification using, in this case, principal components analysis, The flow probe NMR approach offers distinct advantages in situations w here large numbers of samples require NMR analysis in a short period o f time, These could include routine samples from high throughput chemi cal synthesis, biofluid samples for drug toxicity monitoring as shown here, samples for clinical diagnosis or real-time analysis in chemical production facilities.