Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2025

The Identification of Sea Lamprey Pheromones Using Bioassay-Guided Fractionation
Published on: July 17, 2018
Sherlock-A Free and Open-Source System for the Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation of Organic Compounds from NMR
Michael Wenk1, Jean-Marc Nuzillard2, Christoph Steinbeck1
1Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Friedrich-Schiller-University, 07743 Jena, Germany.
Sherlock is a free, open-source software that aids organic chemists in determining molecular structures using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data. It streamlines the complex process, enhancing the reliability and traceability of structure elucidation results.
Area of Science:
- Organic Chemistry
- Computational Chemistry
- Spectroscopy
Background:
- Structure elucidation of small organic molecules (<1500 Dalton) using 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data presents significant challenges due to its combinatorial nature.
- Reliable and traceable structure elucidation is crucial for advancing chemical research and discovery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce Sherlock, a novel free and open-source Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation (CASE) software.
- To provide organic chemists with a tool to improve the reliability and traceability of structure elucidation.
Main Methods:
- Sherlock features a graphical user interface enabling users to control elementary operations.
- Key functionalities include spectral peak picking, constraint addition (automatic or user-defined), structure generation, and solution ranking/display.
Main Results:
- The software was tested using a set of forty-five diverse organic compounds.
- Sherlock demonstrated enhanced possibilities for improving the reliability and traceability of structure elucidation.
Conclusions:
- Sherlock offers a valuable, user-friendly solution for the complex task of structure elucidation in organic chemistry.
- The software empowers chemists to achieve more dependable and reproducible structural identification through NMR data analysis.
More Related Videos
14:44Structure and Coordination Determination of Peptide-metal Complexes Using 1D and 2D 1H NMR
Published on: December 16, 2013
10:52Line Shape Analysis of Dynamic NMR Spectra for Characterizing Coordination Sphere Rearrangements at a Chiral Rhenium Polyhydride Complex
Published on: July 27, 2022
Related Concept Videos
2D NMR: Heteronuclear Single-Quantum Correlation Spectroscopy (HSQC)
NMR Spectrometers: Overview
Chemical Shift: Internal References and Solvent Effects
The internal reference compound generally used in NMR spectroscopy is tetramethylsilane (TMS). TMS is preferred because it is chemically inert, soluble in NMR solvents, and easily removable. Also, the highly shielded methyl protons in TMS yield an intense...
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...
2D NMR: Overview of Homonuclear Correlation Techniques
COSY90 is the standard two-dimensional (2D) COSY experiment that...
NMR Spectrometers: Resolution and Error Correction