Hyphenated analytical techniques and phytoindustrial reality: do we need Ferraris to pull trailers?

In recent years multi-hyphenated methods coupling NMR spectroscopy (as the most powerful method for structure elucidation of natural compounds) with HPLC or SPE (solid phase extraction) have been described and used by several high performance working groups. In principal those methods allow a rapid identification of a multitude of plant constituents avoiding the classical and complicated isolation and characterisation procedure. Within the presentation it is discussed if multihyphenated analytical techniques might be used during analytical development and routine analysis of herbal preparations and herbal medicinal products. In most cases the methods seem to be oversized for the analysis of traditional or well established HMPs, extracts and plants. However multihyphenated techniques may play a role during the basic research on medicinal plants, the development of new plant extracts, the screening on active or analytical markers, and for a holistic characterisation of plant extracts and bioanalytical profiling. As the techniques are based on special equipment and dedicated personal a broad industrial use seems unlikely. Corresponding problems should be solved within cooperations of the industry and the specialised labs.