Patent Granted to RBI Scientists in the Field of NMR Spectroscopy and Mass Spectroscopy
On April 24, 2012, the United States Patent Office accepted a patent application from the RBI scientists Ivica Kopriva, Ph.D., (DLARD) and Ivanka Jerić, Ph.D., (DOCB), and issued U.S. Patent No. 8165373 entitled Method and System for Blind Extraction of More Pure Components than Mixtures in 1d and 2d NMR Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry Combining Sparse Component Analysis and Single Component Points.
The comparative advantage of the proposed method is that it facilitates the determination of the number of components, their concentrations and components from available mixtures, in which the number of components may be greater than the number of mixtures.
The method is based upon the assumption of the existence of a small number of points (frequency or mass-to-charge ratio), in which only a single component is dominantly present. This facilitates the blind extraction of components from a small number of mixtures, even highly complex ones. Existing methods require a larger number of mixtures than the number of components, which in practice is not easy to achieve. A diagram of the procedure for the extraction of components is presented in the figure.
In the analysis of samples taken from biological fluids or tissue samples, the problem of a small number of highly complex mixtures is commonplace. Therefore, this innovation is applicable in the determination and identification of the metabolites and biomarkers present in biological fluids (urine, blood plasma, cerebral fluid, saliva etc.) or tissue samples.
The method can also be used for chemical synthesis, monitoring food quality, and monitoring pollution or toxicity, e.g., for the identification and characterization of components obtained from natural sources (microorganisms, plants and animals).