NMR ANALYSIS OF WATER MOLECULE CLUSTERS

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) was first developed in 1946 by research groups at Stanford and M.I.T., in the USA. The radar technology developed during World War II made many of the electronic aspects of the NMR spectrometer possible. With the newly developed hardware physicists and chemists began to apply the technology to chemistry and physics problems. Over the next 50 years NMR developed into the premier organic spectroscopy available to chemists to determine the detailed chemical structure of the chemicals they were synthesizing. Another well-known product of NMR technology has been the Magnetic Resonance Imager (MRI), which is utilized extensively in the medical radiology field to obtain image slices of soft tissues in the human body. In recent years, NMR has moved out of the research laboratory and into the on-line process analyzer market. This has been made possible by the production of stable permanent magnet technologies that allow highresolution 1H NMR spectra to be obtained in a process environment. NMR analytical technique therefore provides useful data regarding the type, quantity and arrangement of different atoms in chemical systems, liquids and solids. NMR is a critical technique for structure determination, often required on short notice, many times in medical emergencies and diagnostics. An extensive range of NMR laboratory analytical measurements can be made in the following general categories: * Compound identity * Structure shape and bonding(including water crystalline characteristics) * Mixture component composition * Atomic composition * Molecular weight, Molecular formulae * Polymer composition * Polymer arrangement * Molecular motion * Inter-molecular exchange processes * Intra-molecular exchange processes * Low and high temperature effects * Basic chemical functionality of a sample * 2d NMR, Structural detail, connectivity, correlation spectroscopy * Conformation of a molecule, Nuclear Overhauser Effect, (NOE)

NMR has been used by a wide range of laboratories and degreed scientists involved in biochemistry, neurobiological studies and general water chemistry to evaluate the various physical characteristics of water molecules and their relationships to one another before and after "processing" or exposure to various physical and electromagnetic stimuli. It is important to understand that with all of these laboratory capabilities, test results and technical papers presented in the areas of NMR and water structure there are still antagonists who simply seem to "not get it" and who spend a considerable amount of time bashing not only the scientific results but also the scientists who have produced such results. Most of these individuals appear to be academic rejects or medical practitioners who have had their medical licenses stripped due to these eccentric activities. Some have been dragged into court by libelled or slandered defendents and found guilty in court decisions of fraudulent activity and misrepresentation of facts. One just has to be thankful that these naysayers are no longer teaching our college students or practicing medicine on our family members. We shall leave them in their scientific ignorance and proceed to press ahead with new and exciting research that continues to uncover secrets untouched by prior generations and their experimentation. NMR analysis of various organic compounds, water structures and other materials involves a fairly detailed understanding of signal transmission and processing theory, including the use of Fourier Transforms. In general terms, a signal of known bandwidth is transmitted toward a "target" which has unknown chemical or structural characteristics. Depending on how the "target" reacts to this incoming signal, scientists can determine a considerable amount about the composition of the unknown material, compound or molecular structure. Since the target material is composed of molecules which have electromagnetic characteristics of their own, significant information is obtained by determining how long it takes to have the target material return to its "normal" electromagnetic state after it has been stimulated by the incoming, transmitted frequency or frequencies. This is called the "relaxation time" and in the case of water has been directly correlated with the amount or number of water molecules which are clustered to together and which(as a group) return to their normal electromagnetic state after external stimulation by the incoming signal. The larger the group of water molecules, the longer the "relaxation time"; the smaller the group of molecules in the cluster, the shorter the relaxation time. A similar but somewhat more complicated analytical representation is used in non-invasive MRI analysis of various body tissues, tumor identification and other physiological conditions at a cellular level. Similar in many respects to the radar system example identified at the top of this page, the relaxation times of the various reflected or "resonant" returned signals allow the medical

technician to identify the various body components being targeted by the transmitted signal(s). "Clustered" water is typically characterized by smaller groups of molecules, lower surface tensions and thus can more easily penetrate the cellular membrane. This clustering process is somewhat akin to the ease of carrying a bowling ball through a normal doorway versus trying to carry an 8 foot diameter balloon through the same doorway. As a result, cellular absorption is limited to materials which have exceptionally small metrics. Materials which cannot pass through the membrane remain in the extracellular fluids as electrolytes or waste products. Our body certainly needs electrolytes to conduct electrical signals between individual body cells but unless water can pass through the membrane into the cell, the cell dehydrates and dies; no oxygen or hydrogen is available inside the cell to assist in metabolism of various proteins and carbohydrates and the cell dies; and if water cannot pass into the cell, detoxification or cleansing of the cell does not take place and the cell dies due to cumulative toxicity and the body as a whole thus suffers due to the inability of cells to expell toxic waste material. It is quite similar to having an automobile without a carbureutor or exhaust system: fuel(water) cannot enter the engine and toxic waste products(carbon monoxide) cannot leave the engine. The result is quite predictable for the automobile and of course similar in the case of animals and humans subjected the same restrictions. So, what type of water more easily penetrates cellular membranes and nourishes the cells and what type(s) of water simply cannot get past the "gatekeeper" due to their characteristics or materials which the water molecules are carrying as they enter the bloodstream? It has been determined by Lorenzen, Jhon and others that water molecules clustered in groups of 5, 6 and 7 molecules tend to pass through the membrane more easily then larger groups. It reminds me of the recent "le Tour de France" when the bicyclists encountered a narrow road they organized into a single file column. When the road widened, they returned to racing several abreast. The narrow road in effect represents the small channels in the cellular membrane through which nutrients and water can pass. The figure below illustrates the idea.

So, NMR can help us identify materials and water characteristics which permit efficient nutrient transfer as well as efficienty hydration. A typical NMR electronic "radar return signal" is illustrated below.

This type of response or relaxation time indicates that the water clusters are small compared to other types of water containing a variety of inorganic minerals or other materials where the half width of the relaxation time

response is considerably larger, up to and including responses in excess of twice the amount illustrated above. Other portions of this website include information on how water can be conditioned so that narrow NMR signals as illustrated above can be realized. Such waters are thus more easily transferred into cells and widely accepted measurement techniques for measuring cellular water content(RJM instrumentation, for example) can easily demonstrate this hydration effect. So, if you read some naysayer's Internet tirade that tries to debunk this simple analytic NMR process, just remember that that individual must have been exposed to some sort of atomic radiation earlier in life or was dropped on their head during childhood and his or her brain simply has ceased to function normally. Be thankful that science is now capable of giving us some indications of not only what types of foods are healthy for our body but also what types and characteristics of our drinking water are best suited for effective hydration of our body's billions of cells.