Current mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction are presented as structure elucidation tools for analytical chemistry of natural products. Discovering new molecular entities combined with dereplication of known organic compounds represent prerequisites for biological assays and for respective applications as pharmaceuticals or molecular markers. Liquid chromatography is briefly addressed with respect to its use in mass spectrometry- and nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics studies.

This feature article discusses two modern mass spectrometry abbreviations in their clinical applications. Rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS) is reported as a molecular classification tool useful for spectral features definition prior to mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). REIMS is appreciated not only as an ionization technique coupled with a surgical device but particularly as a biomarker discovery tool. For more complex understanding of pathological processes at cellular and molecular levels, the importance of multimodal approach in imaging applications is documented in the context of fiducial markers needed for hyperspectral data fusion collected by optical microscopy, elemental and molecular MSI. Finally, pathogen inactivation needed prior to the sectioning of the infected tissue is reported, and the impact of formaldehyde crosslinking to signal reduction is discussed.