Magnetic resonance microimaging and numerical simulations of velocity fields inside enlarged flow cells used for coupled NMR microseparations.

The coupling of various chemical microseparation methods with small-scale NMR detection is a growing area in analytical chemistry. The formation of enlarged flow cells within the active volume of the NMR detector can significantly increase the coil filling factor and hence the signal-to-noise ratio of the NMR spectra. However, flow cells can also lead to deterioration of the separation efficiency due to the development of complex flow patterns, the form of which depend on the particular geometry of the flow cell and the flow rate used. In this study, we investigated the flow characteristics in different flow cell geometries relevant to the coupling of capillary liquid chromatography and NMR. Computational fluid dynamics was used to simulate fluid flow inside flow cells with a volume of approximately 1 microL. Magnetic resonance microimaging was used to measure experimentally the velocity fields inside these flow cells. The results showed good agreement between experiment and simulation and demonstrated that a relatively gradual expansion and contraction is necessary to avoid areas of weak recirculation and strong radial velocities, both of which can potentially compromise separation efficiency.