Applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to Characterization of Marine Toxins

Marine toxins, which are produced by diverse marine organisms, can pose various threats to marine ecosystems and human health. Understanding their chemical structures and compositions is an important and challenging stage in the process of devising effective strategies for their management and reduction. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, alongside mass spectrometry, has emerged as the core and universal technique to achieve this task. This review highlights the role of NMR in obtaining structural data and information on marine toxins, and discusses the practical applications of NMR in the characterization of toxins. The study describes key NMR techniques, including one- and two-dimensional experiments, and discusses case studies of NMR implemented to tackle detection sensitivity and the complexities of specific toxins. Finally, the study analyzes how NMR methodologies may be advanced to improve the structural analysis of marine toxins.