Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy, is a research technique that exploits the magnetic properties of certain atomic nuclei. NMR determines the physical and chemical properties of atoms or the molecules in which they are contained. NMR provides detailed information about the structure, dynamics, reaction state, and chemical environment of molecules.

NMR is a critical instrument for structure determination of a chemical compound. NMR provides quantitative and qualitative data on the composition of a sample. A simplified description of the technique is that the sample is submitted in a deuterated solvent and transferred into an NMR tube. The sample NMR tube is placed into a magnetic field. A radio frequency pulse is then sent through the sample solution in order to orient the magnetic moments of the nuclei in the solution. As the magnetic moments relax, they exhibit a free induction decay. The free induction decay is Fourier transformed into a NMR spectrum. The NMR spectrum displays chemical shifts for the individual nuclei; and from these chemical shifts, the structure of the compound can be determined.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC; formerly referred to as high-pressure liquid chromatography), is a technique in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify, and quantify each component in a mixture. It relies on pumps to pass a pressurized liquid solvent containing the sample mixture through a column filled with a solid adsorbent material. Each component in the sample interacts slightly differently with the adsorbent material, causing different flow rates for the different components and leading to the separation of the components as they flow out the column.

Sample retention time will vary depending on the interaction between the stationary phase, the molecules being analyzed, and the solvent, or solvents used. As the sample passes through the column it interacts between the two phases at different rate, primarily due to different polarities in the analytes. Analytes that have the least amount of interaction with the stationary phase or the most amount of interaction with the mobile phase will exit the column faster.

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that produces spectra (singular spectrum) of the masses of the atoms or molecules comprising a sample of material. The spectra are used to determine the elemental or isotopic signature of a sample, the masses of particles and of molecules, and to elucidate the chemical structures of molecules, such as peptides and other chemical compounds. Mass spectrometry works by ionizing chemical compounds to generate charged molecules or molecule fragments and measuring their mass-to-charge ratios.

In a typical MS procedure, a sample, which may be solid, liquid, or gas, is ionized. The ions are separated according to their mass-to-charge ratio. The ions are detected by a mechanism capable of detecting charged particles. Signal processing results are displayed as spectra of the relative abundance of ions as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. The atoms or molecules can be identified by correlating known masses to the identified masses or through a characteristic fragmentation pattern.