Food Analysis Using Fast Steady-State Free Precession TD-NMR Relaxometric Methods

Abstract

The importance of NMR relaxometry in food analysis has been growing at a fast pace in recent years. Most food-related applications rely upon the transverse relaxation time (T 2) that can be measured with a single-shot method using the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill pulse sequence. On the other hand, the longitudinal relaxation time (T 1) has been seldom used due to the long measurement time of classical methods (e.g., inversion recovery, saturation recovery, and other pulse sequences). To bypass the long acquisition time, several single-shot, steady-state methods have been proposed to measure T 1 , T 2 , and T 1 /T 2 ratio. This chapter presents and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of rapid, single-shot continuous wave free precession (CWFP) pulse sequences in the measurement of