Structural elucidation

Structural elucidation is the determination of the chemical structure of chemically uncharacterised substances such as natural products. It is preceded by the extraction and isolation steps. It makes use of various chromatography techniques (MPLC, HPLC) as well as spectrometric techniques (MS, 1D and 2D NMR[1]). MS spectrometers like ions traps can use the fragmentation techniques to further investiguate the structure of the molecule.

It is a technique used notably in phytochemistry, for instance to characterise polyphenol oxidation products.[2]

References

  1. ^ Isolation and Structural Elucidation of Some Procyanidins from Apple by Low-Temperature Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Toshihiko Shoji, Motoh Mutsuga, Takatoshi Nakamura, Tomomasa Kanda, Hiroshi Akiyama and Yukihiro Goda, J. Agric. Food Chem., 2003, 51 (13), pp 3806–3813, doi:10.1021/jf0300184
  2. ^ ABTS radical-driven oxidation of polyphenols: Isolation and structural elucidation of covalent adducts. A.M. Osman, K.K.Y. Wong and A. Fernyhough, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 346, Issue 1, 21 July 2006, Pages 321-329, doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.05.118