NMR characterization of marine sediments in the Venice lagoon

This study investigates the metabolite composition of different salt marsh types in the Venice Lagoon. The aim is to identify metabolites that can indicate the metabolic presence and activity of microorganisms in those sediments. A total of 10 samples were stored and processed to obtain a liquid phase of pore water and two other extraction phases in methanol and chloroform to detect hydrophilic and lipophilic molecules. Spectra were acquired for a subset of extracts with 1D 1H NMR and 2D 1H-1H NMR techniques. After pre-processing, peaks were manually assigned using HMDB and GISSMO databases resulting in a total of 40 identifications. Despite minor technical setbacks, the methodologies presented here improved the quality of spectra compared to previous studies.