13C NMR spectroscopic
integration employing short relaxation
delays was evaluated as a quantitative tool to obtain ratios of diastereomers,
regioisomers, constitutional isomers, mixtures of unrelated compounds,
peptoids, and sugars. The results were compared to established quantitative
methods such as 1H NMR spectroscopic integration, gas chromatography,
and high-performance liquid chromatography and were found to be within
<3.4% of 1H NMR spectroscopic values (most examples
give results within <2%). Acquisition of the spectra took 2–30
min on as little as 10 mg of sample, proving the general utility of
the technique. The simple protocol was extended to include end group
analysis of low molecular weight polymers, which afforded results
in accordance with 1H NMR spectroscopy and matrix-assisted
laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight spectrometry.