Exploratory applications of diffusion ordered spectroscopy to liquid foods: an aid towards spectral assignment

NMR spectroscopy has, in many instances, proved to be an important tool for the rapid, non-invasive analysis of liquid foods. However, achieving improved and more complete spectral assignment poses several difficulties due to strong signal overlap and low abundance of many components of interest. This paper presents preliminary applications of diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) to complex liquid foods such as fruit juices and beer, as a complementary aid to spectral assignment based on the hydrodynamic volume, and hence diffusivity of different components. The usefulness of this technique is shown mainly for aliphatic and aromatic compounds found in juices and beer and the difficulties posing challenges for future work are discussed.