Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Single-throughput Complementary High-resolution Analytical Techniques for Characterizing Complex Natural Organic Matter Mixtures
Published on: January 7, 2019
Interactions between natural organic matter and organic pollutants as revealed by NMR spectroscopy
Pierluigi Mazzei1, Alessandro Piccolo1
1Centro Interdipartimentale per la Risonanza Magnetica Nucleare per l'Ambiente, l'Agro-Alimentare ed i Nuovi Materiali (CERMANU), Università di Napoli Federico II, Via Università 100, 80055, Portici, Italy.
Abstract:
Natural organic matter (NOM) plays a critical role in regulating the transport and the fate of organic contaminants in the environment. NMR spectroscopy is a powerful technique for the investigation of the sorption and binding mechanisms between NOM and pollutants, as well as their mutual chemical transformations. Despite NMR relatively low sensibility but due to its wide versatility to investigating samples in the liquid, gel, and solid phases, NMR application to environmental NOM-pollutants relations enables the achievement of specific and complementary molecular information. This report is a brief outline of the potentialities of the different NMR techniques and pulse sequences to elucidate the interactions between NOM and organic pollutants, with and without their labeling with nuclei that enhance NMR sensitivity.
Related Concept Videos
NMR Spectroscopy of Aromatic Compounds
¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are...
¹H NMR Signal Integration: Overview
NMR Spectroscopy Of Amines
Other Nuclides: 31P, 19F, 15N NMR
While fluorine-19 and phosphorous-31 have high natural abundances (100%) and positive gyromagnetic ratios, nitrogen-15 has a low natural abundance and a negative gyromagnetic ratio. However, nitrogen-15 is still preferred over nitrogen-14 (which has a...
¹H NMR: Complex Splitting
Splitting diagrams or splitting tree diagrams are routinely used to depict such complex couplings. While drawing splitting diagrams, the splitting with the larger coupling constant is usually applied...

