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Isotope Ratio Monitoring by NMR. Part 1: Recent Advances

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Modern Magnetic Resonance

Abstract

Many physical and chemical processes in living systems are accompanied by isotopic fractionation on common atoms. The determination of isotopic abundance is therefore an unrivaled method to probe the (bio)chemical origin of natural or synthetic molecules. NMR has become a major analytical technique in stable isotope analysis, since SNIF-NMR (site-specific natural isotopic fractionation studied by nuclear magnetic resonance) was introduced by Profs. Martin and Martin in the 1980s. Renamed irm-NMR (isotopic ratio measurement by NMR), it is a major authentication tool and has been recognized as an official method to detect subtle food adulteration. It is the only generic analytical technique that can quantify each isotopomer without degradation; it therefore provides significant additional information in the many cases in which the average isotopic distribution is insufficient to differentiate samples from different origins and/or to understand (bio)synthetic pathways. In the last 30 years, irm-NMR has undergone numerous methodological developments, which have extended its field of application. In particular, its extension to 13C isotopic NMR and to anisotropic 2H NMR has widened the range of samples that can be studied. This chapter describes the general principles of irm-NMR and highlights the recent methodological developments (reference methods, pulse sequences) and the original applications stemming from these advances. Lastly, perspectives are discussed, based on some of these most recent methodological advances in NMR.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chimie et Interdisciplinarité: Synthèse, Analyse, Modélisation (CEISAM UMR CNRS 6230), Université de Nantes, UMR 6230, 2 rue de la Houssinière, BP 92208, 44322, cedex 3, Nantes, France

    Gérald S. Remaud, Patrick Giraudeau & Serge Akoka

  2. Institut Universitaire de France, 1 rue Descartes, 75005, cedex 05, Paris, France

    Patrick Giraudeau

  3. RMN en Milieu Orienté, ICMMO, UMR CNRS 8182, Université de Paris-Sud/Université Paris-Saclay, Bât. 410, 91405, cedex, Orsay, France

    Philippe Lesot

  4. Institut National de Chimie, CNRS, 3 rue Michel-Ange, 75794, cedex 16, Paris, France

    Philippe Lesot

Authors
  1. Gérald S. Remaud
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  2. Patrick Giraudeau
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  3. Philippe Lesot
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  4. Serge Akoka
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Serge Akoka .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Society of Chemistry, London, United Kingdom

    Graham A. Webb

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Remaud, G.S., Giraudeau, P., Lesot, P., Akoka, S. (2016). Isotope Ratio Monitoring by NMR. Part 1: Recent Advances. In: Webb, G. (eds) Modern Magnetic Resonance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28275-6_8-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28275-6_8-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28275-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28275-6

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