As part of the MWET EFRC, we have been developing expertise in spatially-resolved NMR methods that enable us to measure and monitor thermodynamic and transport phenomena both in solution and in membranes.
Cold brew coffee partitioning across water and almond milk.
We are able to directly quantify solute partitioning between phases via comparison of peak ratios between spatially-resolved NMR measurements. This reduces the amount of assumptions required in the analysis and this was reflected in the results, which faithfully reproduced the literature values of log(Kow) for a number of solutes.
Partitioning of an acetonitrile solute between water (lower) and octanol (higher).
Ideally, we will be able to expand the measurements from spatially-resolved intensity profiles along the z-axis of an NMR tube that enable us to measure transport at the macroscopic scale, to microscopic measurements of solute diffusion specifically within the membrane phase.
Schematic of multiscale transport measurements in membranes by NMR spectroscopy.