Applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to Traditional Chinese Medicine

Background In recent years, the focus of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research has gradually shifted from pure chemical research to looking at the combination of chemistry with the life sciences. However, due to the complexity of the chemical composition of Chinese medicinal plants, understanding material structure through in vivo and in vitro studies is a bottleneck in biological analysis. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has numerous unique advantages over other analytical techniques, and has developed into a crucial tool in Chinese medicine research. This review aims to analyze and summarize the application of NMR under the multiple fields of TCM. Methods The online databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and CNKI were using the search terms “Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry,” “NMR,”“Chinese medicine,” “TCM,” “Herbal medicine,” were from January 1, 2010 to June 1, 2023 Results The research scopes were 375 after being selected. The latest applications of NMR to TCM including its application to metabolomics, structural identification and efficacy exploration, and authentication and quality control. There were 116 articles on metabolism, 196 articles on compound structure identification and 63 articles on quality control. The metabolomic study of NMR is in line with the multicomponent, multitarget, and overall comprehensive effect of TCM. The structural identification of the chemical components of TCM is more helpful for the discovery of other biologically active substances with high efficacy and few side effects. NMR provides support in quality control and planting site selection of TCM. Conclusion NMR has become an essential tool and makes great contributions to the field of TCM research, the innovation in the application of NMR technology will aid with the research on the material basis of TCM.