About PlotPie

PlotPie is a free, browser-based tool for processing and visualizing scientific spectral data. The current version focuses on 1H-NMR spectra recorded on Bruker spectrometers: users upload a dataset, process it interactively, and export the final spectrum as SVG.

Motivation

NMR analysis software is, with few exceptions, expensive, heavy, and tied to specific operating systems. For a quick look at a spectrum, a routine integration, or a clean figure for a report, a full desktop suite is often more friction than the task deserves.

PlotPie was built to fill that gap: a lightweight web app that runs anywhere a browser does, requires no installation, and covers the core 1D workflow - Fourier transform, phase correction, peak picking, integration, and publication-ready export.

The longer-term motivation is broader. Analytical chemistry is slowly moving toward open formats, scriptable workflows, and lab digitalization. PlotPie is a small contribution in that direction.

How It Works

PlotPie is written in Python. The scientific core is built on nmrglue for reading Bruker raw data and applying spectral processing, and matplotlib for rendering. The web layer is a Flask application with server-rendered HTML - deliberately no heavy frontend framework, to keep the project small and auditable.

All processing happens server-side within a temporary session. There is no client-side WebAssembly or browser-side number crunching; the browser is the interface, not the compute layer.

Supported Data

  • Format: Bruker (TopSpin folder structure), uploaded as ZIP
  • Experiments: 1D 1H-NMR
  • Output: SVG (vector, ready for publications and reports)

Support for additional nuclei (13C, 31P, 19F) and 2D experiments is being considered for future versions.

Data Handling and Privacy

Uploaded files are extracted into an isolated session workspace, processed, and discarded when the session ends. No spectra, identifiers, or processed results are persisted on the server or shared with third parties. PlotPie does not use trackers or analytics.

Project Status

PlotPie is experimental and under active development. The codebase is open and available on GitHub. Bug reports, feature suggestions, and contributions are welcome.

Roadmap

Planned and considered for future versions:

  • Additional nuclei (13C, 19F, 31P)
  • 2D NMR (COSY, HSQC) basic visualization
  • Nativ TikZ export

Try It with a Demo Dataset

A small example dataset is available so you can try the full workflow without your own Bruker data:

📥 Download demo dataset (furfurylamine.zip, ~1.7 MB)
1H-NMR spectrum of furfurylamine, Bruker format. Upload it directly on the NMR page to try PlotPie.

The spectrum is a 1H-NMR of furfurylamine, recorded during the developer's B.Sc. thesis work.

Dimitri Karpov

About the Developer

PlotPie is developed by Dimitri Karpov, a chemist (B.Sc.) with thesis work in applied materials research at Fraunhofer IFAM (Bremen). My interests sit at the intersection of analytical chemistry, scientific computing, and lab digitalization - NMR data processing, spectroscopy, and the move toward more automated, software-driven experimental workflows.

I built PlotPie to bring these two sides together in something practical: a free, lightweight, web-based alternative to the heavy desktop software that still dominates NMR analysis.

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