Organic Chemical Metrology Group

NIST PS1 Primary Standard for quantitative NMR

About the OCMG

The group designs, produces and maintains an extensive portfolio of Standard Reference Materials and data products, primary standards, and Quality Assurance programs for organic species in clinical, nutritional assessment and metabolomics, food safety and nutrition, dietary supplement and natural products, chemical manufacturing, and forensics program areas. The group provides advice and measurement services to other government agencies, scientific organizations, and US industry; and engages with international standards organizations and other National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) to establish comparability of measurement capabilities.

Primary Focus Areas

Food Nutrition and Food Safety

Well-characterized food-matrix reference materials are needed by testing laboratories in the food industry to facilitate compliance with labeling and safety regulations, which in turn allows consumers to make informed food choices. Consumer confidence and safety depend on sophisticated analysis and underlying metrology to accurately determine nutritional content and detect both intentional and unintentional adulteration and to confirm the identity of food products. Efforts are ongoing to develop and maintain measurement services, including reference materials, reference data, interlaboratory comparisons, and more to support compliance with food labeling and food safety regulations.

Clinical and Health Assessment

The accuracy of clinical diagnostic measurements is essential for research, reliable diagnosis, and cost-effective treatment of disease. NIST provides reference methods, reference materials, and quality assurance programs to support the accuracy and traceability of health-related measurements. NIST works closely with in vitro diagnostics manufacturers, as well as end-users in national health, research, and routine clinical diagnostic laboratories to identify priority measurement needs.

Natural Products

Natural products are a class of substances found in nature, and are often used/advertised to maintain or improve health and valued for medicinal or therapeutic properties, flavor, and/or scent. They consist of herbal/botanical products, dietary supplements, and phytomedicines.

Fundamental Chemical Metrology

Metrology is a formalized process to understand, compare and standardize scientific measurement of physical properties. Measured chemical quantities are typically relative amounts of substance (number of chemical entities, e.g., molecules, within a mass or volume) or mass fractions of substances in pure chemicals, mixtures and composites, and materials of natural origin.

Forensic Science

NIST provides tools to help forensic crime laboratories validate their analytical methods and ensure accuracy in their results for DNA and biological evidence, fingerprint and pattern evidence, illicit drugs, digital evidence, ballistics, and trace evidence.

Material Evaluations

Materials used in industry (to include starting materials and finished products) need to be evaluated to determine that the materials are suitable for their intended purpose that is safe for consumers and the environment. NIST currently develops Standard Reference Materials to support measurements for material evaluations.

Chemical Metrology for BioSciences

The Chemical Sciences Division (CSD) works in partnership with the Biological Science Divisions to develop robust NMR and MS-based analytical protocols, artifact standards (biological fluids, materials, tissues, or synthetic), and reference data for quality assurance in omics-based measurements for clinical diagnostics and health and nutritional assessment, in addition to the evaluation of clinical chemistry assays for a range of biomarker compounds.

Blogs

NIST Chemist Katrice Lippa on NIST SRMs

Linking the World Through Chemical Measurements

Reference Materials and Lab Certifications Resolve Industry-wide Challenges

Food Safety Education Month

NIST Lends a Hand to Hand-Sanitizer Manufacturers

Forensic Science Internships at NIST – A look at Cannabis Compounds

News and Updates

Two New Reference Materials Assist Supplement Makers with Measurements of Isoflavones in Kudzu

August 3, 2021

Kudzu, a member of the pea family native to East Asia and considered an invasive weed in the American South, has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine and

An Aid for Instrumentation for Measuring Active Compounds in Ginseng

July 12, 2021

Ginsenosides are thought to be the active compounds in ginseng, a plant long used in Chinese medicine that is now a popular supplement and the subject of

New NIST Reference Material Aids in Measurement of Cocoa's Active Molecules

July 1, 2021

Cocoa, the substance from which chocolate is made, is thought to have benefits to the human cardiovascular system and so has been the focus of many clinical

Two New NIST Reference Materials for Assuring Measurements of Nutrients in Formula

June 30, 2021

To help ensure that babies and patients get all the essential amino acids and other nutrients that they need, infant and prescription adult nutritional formulas

Projects and Programs

NIST Tools for Cannabis Laboratory Quality Assurance

The Chemical Sciences Division (CSD) at NIST is developing an integrated measurement services program for Forensic and Cannabis (hemp and marijuana)

Measurement Science of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards & Technology are creating reference materials and data resources to address the per- and polyfluoroalkyl

Measurements and Standards to Support Nutrition Labeling

The Chemical Sciences Division is working to provide food-matrix reference materials to facilitate compliance with nutritional labeling laws, provide

Metrology and Standards for Canine Olfactory Detection of Explosives

As part of a multi-year interagency agreement between the Office of Standards of the Department of Homeland Security and NIST, NIST is developing measurement

Publications

Health Assessment Measurements Quality Assurance Program: Exercise 6 Final Report

September 20, 2021

Author(s)

Chuck Barber, Carolyn Burdette, Hugh Hayes, Monique Johnson, Shaun Kotoski, Jacolin Murray, Melissa M. Phillips, Kate Rimmer, Laura J. Wood, Andrea Yarberry

The Health Assessment Measurements Quality Assurance Program (HAMQAP) was launched in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of

Assessment of Serum Total 25 Hydroxyvitamin D Assay Commutability of Standard Reference Materials and College of American Pathologists Accuracy Based Vitamin D (ABVD) Scheme and Vitamin D External Quality Assessment Scheme (DEQAS) Materials: Vitamin D Sta

July 1, 2021

Author(s)

Johanna Camara, Stephen A. Wise, Andrew Hoofnagle, Emma L. Williams, Graham D. Carter, Julia C. Jones, Carolyn Burdette, Grace Hahm, Federica Nalin, Adam J. Kuszak, Joyce M. Merkel, Ramon Durazo-Arvizu, Pierre Lukas, E. Cavalier, Christian Popp, Christian Beckert, Jan Schultess, Glen Van Slooten, Carole Tourneur, Camille Pease, Ravi Kaul, Alfredo Villarreal, Fiona Ivison, Ralf Fischer, Jody M. van den Ouweland, Chung S. Ho, Emmett W. Law, Jean-Nicolas Simard, Renaud Gonthier, Brett Holmquist, Marcelo C. Batista, Heather Pham, Alex Bennett, Sarah Meadows, Lorna Cox, Eugene Jansen, Dilshad A. Khan, Kimberly Robyak, Michael H. Creer, Mark Kilbane, Patrick J. Twomey, James Freeman, Neil Parker, Jinyun Yuan, Robert Fitzgerald, Sohail Mushtaq, Michael W. Clarke, Norma Breen, Christine Simpson, Christopher T. Sempos

An interlaboratory study was conducted through the Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) to assess commutability of Standard Reference Materials® (SRMs) and

Vitamin D Standardization Program (VDSP) intralaboratory study for the assessment of 25-hydroxyvitamin D assay variability and bias

May 17, 2021

Author(s)

Johanna Camara, Stephen Wise, Christopher T. Sempos, Pierre Lukas, Caroline LeGoff, Stephanie Peeters, Carolyn Burdette, Federica Nalin, Grace Hahm, Ramon Durazo-Arvizu, Adam J. Kuszak, Joyce M. Merkel, E. Cavalier

An intralaborabory comparison study to assess the performance of assays for the determination of serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] was conducted in 2017

Development of a Tool to Determine the Variability of Consensus Mass Spectra

March 8, 2021

Author(s)

Benjamin Place

The success of non-targeted analysis often depends on libraries containing reference mass spectra of known chemical compounds; the mass spectra of unknown

Software

Simulated Chromatographic Data

The following information is provided as an aid in the validation of mathematical models used in quantitation with chromatographic data. This data may also be

Awards

2018 - Allen V. Astin Measurement Science Award---Mary Bedner, Carolyn Burdette, Johanna Camara, Katrice Lippa, Karen W. Phinney, Lane C. Sander

For creating the measurement infrastructure required for global assessment of the role of vitamin D in human health.

2018 - Bronze Medal Award---Katrice Lippa, Michael Nelson, Blaza Toman

For the development and implementation of a metrological system for determining the purity of organic chemical compounds.

2017 - Equal Employment Opportunity/Diversity Award---Mary Satterfield, Catherine Rimmer

For creation and leadership of the Montgomery College Internship Program that increases the diversity of our STEM pipeline.

Christina Jones, Benjamin Place and Aaron Urbas, together with CSD colleagues Regina Easley, Jason Waters, Laura Wood, Lee Yu, David Sheen and Werickson Rocha, received the 2019 MML Strategic Partnership Award for the establishment of a multidisciplinary team to conduct metrology research at NIST as part of the European Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Quality in Analytical Laboratories (EMQAL) program.

Michael Nelson and Katrice Lippa, together with NIST colleagues Brian Lang, Jason Waters and Blaza Toman, received the Cooperation on International Traceability in Analytical Chemistry (CITAC) Best Paper Award for 2018 for their work on “A New Realization of SI for Organic Chemical Measurement: NIST PS1 Primary Standard for Quantitative NMR (Benzoic Acid)”.