Methods For Determining Plant Rubber Content With Low Field NMR
AssigneeBridgestone Corporation
InventorsMichael C. Davis, Yingyi Huang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods are described for quantifying an amount of natural rubber in a plant from a sample of the plant by obtaining a NMR spectrum and analyzing the signal peaks for the natural rubber in the plant sample and a standard component tested in combination with the plant sample. The NMR testing is conducted on a liquid state sample of a solution containing dissolved plant sample and standard component. A pre-determined and known amount of standard component is present in the liquid state sample and provides a reference for calculating an estimated amount of natural rubber in the plant sample. The estimated amount of natural rubber in the sample can be used to quantify the amount of extractable rubber in the sampled plant.
Claims15
A method for quantifying an amount of natural rubber in a rubber-containing plant by use of low-field NMR, comprising the steps of:
- a. introducing a sample solution comprising a sample portion of the plant, a solvent and a known amount of standard rubber into a sample receiving space of a low-field NMR apparatus;
- b. obtaining a NMR spectrum of the sample solution, the NMR spectrum comprising a first signal peak corresponding to a single proton for the natural rubber present in the portion of the plant, the first signal peak having a first peak area, and a second signal peak corresponding to one or more protons for the standard rubber, the second signal peak having a second peak area;
- c. quantifying an amount of natural rubber in the portion of the plant by multiplying the first peak area by a conversion factor to obtain an estimate of the number of moles of natural rubber in the plant portion, the conversion factor being the number of moles of the standard rubber in the sample solution divided by the second peak area divided by the number of protons corresponding to the second signal peak.
A non-destructive method for quantifying an amount of natural rubber in a guayule plant by use of low-field NMR, comprising the steps of:
- a. introducing a sample solution into a sample receiving space of a low-field NMR apparatus, the sample solution comprising a dissolved portion of the guayule plant and a pre-determined known amount of moles of a standard component, and the low-field NMR apparatus operating at a magnetic field strength of 2 T or less for obtaining a NMR spectrum for the sample solution;
- b. obtaining a NMR spectrum for the sample solution, the NMR spectrum comprising a first signal peak corresponding to a single proton position for the natural rubber present in the portion of the guayule plant, the first signal peak having a first peak area, and a second signal peak corresponding to one or more protons for the standard component, the second signal peak having a second peak area;
- c. quantifying the number of moles of the natural rubber in the guayule plant by multiplying the first peak area by a conversion factor to obtain an estimate of the number of moles of natural rubber in the plant portion, the conversion factor being the number of moles of the standard component in the sample solution divided by the second peak area divided by the number of protons corresponding to the second signal peak.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.