2 - Environmental solution-state NMR spectroscopy: Recent advances, potential, and impacts

Abstract

Solution-state NMR spectroscopy used to characterize soil organic matter, dissolved organic matter, and organic aerosols has been rapidly developed over the last decade. NMR analysis is a nondestructive, robust, and reproducible method that provides qualitative and quantitative information on all chemical species in the sample through the detection of different types of proton, carbon, phosphorous, nitrogen, and oxygen nuclei. The fundamental principles and the breadth of one- and multidimensional NMR methods are described here. In addition, the molecular and functional characterization of organic matter in various environmental matrices ranging from low-molecular-weight chemical species to macromolecules is presented here. Analysis of the variability of NMR profiles by multivariate statistical analysis including principal components analysis and partial least squares/discriminant analysis allows for the identification of processes controlling the environmental fate of organic species. Benefitting from improvements in NMR technology, solution-state NMR analysis may be a powerful tool in understanding the processes and impacts of organic mixtures in environmental media.