Standardization News

While the general public may not be aware of the inner workings of nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, the importance of these instruments is felt throughout many diverse realms, including manufacturing, healthcare and scientific research analysis. Now, a new ASTM International standard can be used to ascertain the performance of modern FT-NMR spectrometers.

E2977, Practice for Measuring and Reporting Performance of Fourier-Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FT-NMR) Spectrometers for Liquid Samples, is the first ASTM standard that incorporates recent technological advances in NMR spectroscopy.

"E2977 will be used for performance determinations on high-resolution NMR spectrometers, which are used in making chemical composition measurements," says ASTM member Gary Kramer, a research chemist retired from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "Results generated by spectrometers are vitally important in assuring the quality of analytical composition measurements made by NMR."

Primary users of E2977 will be end users, technicians and administrators of NMR spectrometers in chemical analysis laboratories, as well as the manufacturers and vendors of NMR gear and physical NMR standards.

Kramer notes that the practices in E2977 are suitable for determining day-to-day spectrometer performance, problem diagnosis and resolution, and for setting and meeting relevant spectrometer performance specifications.

"E2977 will help to ensure that NMR instruments are functioning properly and provide evidence that the results provided by such instruments are trustworthy in meeting manufacturing, regulatory, consumer and research quality standards," says Kramer.

E2977 was developed by Subcommittee E13.15 on Analytical Data, under the jurisdiction of ASTM International Committee E13 on Molecular Spectroscopy and Separation Science.

E13.15 welcomes all interested parties to participate in the ongoing maintenance of E2977 and in the development of proposed standards. The subcommittee conducts virtual meetings on a regular basis.

CONTACT Technical Information: Gary Kramer • Gaithersburg, Md. • tel +1.301.990.9627 | ASTM Staff: Joe Koury • tel +1.610.832.9804