The blind men and the elephant: challenges in the analysis of complex natural mixtures

Abstract

The identification of molecules from complex mixtures is difficult and full structure determination of the complete chemical milieu is yet to be achieved. Thus the comprehensive analysis of complex natural mixtures continues to challenge physical and analytical chemistry. Over the last 50 years or so, many research laboratories have strived to invent better analytical techniques with complementary physicochemical properties and improved resolving power, and to investigate upfront sample pre-treatments, which are necessary to enhance sample coverage from complex mixtures. The purpose of this Concluding remarks article is to try to capture the recent developments in high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy applied to complex mixtures that were presented and debated, the parallel progress in chemometrics, data processing and machine learning approaches, as well as capturing and highlighting future challenges that still need to be addressed. The summary begins with a brief contextual overview and explains that the title – the blind men and the elephant – reflects that no single method measures everything and that multiple ‘tricorders’ are needed in order to understand complex systems. Next, the meeting highlights are provided, and I hope those that were present are happy that this captures the many diverse areas of research that were discussed and that this article may act as a yardstick to indicate where complex natural mixture analysis stands today.