Case Study
The University of Hong Kong

Bringing affordable NMR analysis
into the classroom

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is considered an essential analytical tool in universities, yet it
is often too expensive to be used by students and researchers. However, the introduction of theOxford Instruments Pulsar benchtop NMR spectrometer at institutions such as The University ofHong Kong is proving that hands-on NMR experience is an affordable and attainable goal.

“With Pulsar, our students,
for the first time, could literally“see” the compounds with
their own eyes.”

Learning theory, not practiceJohnny Wong, Lecturer, Li Ka Shing Facultyof Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

analysis of NMR data is a fundamental part of most undergraduate

NMR is a popular spectroscopy method used by analytical chemists toobtain both qualitative and quantitative information about functionalgroups, molecular backbone and the chemical environment of nuclei
in a molecule. Therefore, teaching basic NMR theory is part of thechemistry undergraduate curriculum throughout the world, andchemistry courses.
Despite this, and in contrast to many other spectroscopic methods,
undergraduate students are rarely given the opportunity to operate aspectrometer due to the complexity and cost of the instrumentation.

Introducing Pulsar“I simply insert the tube and the instrument does the rest.”

With the advent of Pulsar, this has changed. Pulsar is an

Pharmacy, The University of Hong Kong, “Data acquisition isaffordable, cryogen-free benchtop NMR spectrometer thatstraightforward thanks to the work-flow design of the software.”guarantees results without using expensive liquid helium, making
it suitable for virtually any chemistry laboratory and ideal forteaching NMR to undergraduates. Unlike traditional high-field
NMR systems, it is robust and cannot be easily damaged bysays Johnny Wong, Lecturer, Department of Pharmacology andWong and his team are also impressed by the swift local technicalsupport offered by Oxford Instruments. “A dedicated engineer
is always here to answer our technical inquiries and guide any

unwary students.

troubleshooting.”

Since its installation, the Department of Pharmacoloy andWider academic applications

Pharmacy in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The Universityof Hong Kong has been impressed with the results from Pulsar.

Pulsar not only enables the teaching of NMR but also offers

Thanks to its ease of use, the Pulsar system has been seamlessly

researchers a valuable tool to enhance their academic output.

integrated into the workflow within the department. Now, senior

Clearly, Pulsar is an attractive addition to any university

pharmacy students undertaking professional courses in herbal

lab, bringing NMR into the hands of inquisitive students anddrug identification and quality control have access toresearchers, while removing the need for hazardous chemicals.

NMR analysis, including Principal Component Analysis and 2D

If you want to introduce an affordable, robust and user-friendly

NOESY experiments.

benchtop NMR solution, take a closer look at Pulsar.

Less expense, less risk, less time
Previously, the department relied on High Performance Liquid
Chromatography (HPLC) to separate, identify, and quantify
each component in a mixture. However, this requires the use ofsignificant amounts of solvent, making it both expensive andhazardous. Pulsar has no such requirements and measurements
can be conducted much more quickly.

Dr Johnny Wong, Lecturer, Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, talks about Pulsar’s simplicity and effectiveness forpharmaceutical analysis and medicinal chemistry.

Pharmaceutical analysis

Medicinal chemistry“We ask our pharmacy undergraduates to separate several

We used Pulsar in a drug synthesis experiment. Instead

active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in a formulationof measuring the melting point of the unknown productusing the acid-base extraction technique. In the past, after

obtained after re-crystallisation (which we previously

lengthy shaking of the separating funnel, students were only

found impractical as the product is always contaminatedable obtain white powder or crystals with their melting points

by water and our tight class timetable does not allow

as the only clue that they could use to evaluate the identity

thorough drying), we asked our pharmacy students to put

and purity of the compounds produced.

their products into Pulsar. After a few minutes, an almost

With Pulsar, our students, for the first time, could literally“see” the compounds with their own eyes. They wereamazed by the nicely resolved splitting patterns on thescreen, and they were heartened by the definite correlation
between the spectral features and the structures of theircompounds.
This unprecedented user-friendly benchtop NMR is simple
enough for in-class demonstration, especially whencompared with melting point detection. On the other hand,
Pulsar maintains adequate versatility for the expositionof fundamental principles such as locking, FID, Fouriertransform, integration, and coupling. Nothing is better thanfeeling the science with your own hands.

perfect spectrum popped up on the screen, and the students
cheered. Both the identity and purity were clear almost
immediately. This was the case even with the groups ofstudents who had cut corners with the purification steps.
Students were also able to use the processing software tomeasure the integrals and multiplicity and conduct stepwise
structure elucidation in their lab reports.

Research Projects
We allow trained senior students to have direct accessto the Pulsar system, which is so robust that I cannot
think of a way that students could damage it. Common
uses such as identification, checking for purity, andcharacterisation are simple. The real power of thisCurrently, our teaching team is evaluating Pulsar toinstrument is the applications in multivariate analysis, more

detect the amounts of alcohol in food and drug products.

commonly known as chemometrics. Recently, three students

Using the system allows a much faster turnover rate in our

successfully demonstrated how to combine proton NMR andundergraduate lab classes as compared with conventional

chemometrics to classify pills, herbal medicines, and teas indetection methods such as gas chromatography (GC).

relation to their prices, qualities, species, and brands.”

If you would like to find out more or arrange a demo please get in touch today.

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visit https://nmr.oxinst.com/x-pulse for more information or email magres@oxinst.com

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