Mestrelab Mbook (User Manual)

Importance of the Topic

In modern chemical and analytical laboratories, effective data management and collaboration are essential for reproducibility, compliance and productivity. Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) address these needs by replacing paper records, integrating chemical and analytical data, and standardizing workflows. Mbook is designed to serve as a versatile ELN for synthetic and analytical chemistry, streamlining experiment design, execution, reporting and inventory control within a unified digital environment.

Objectives and Overview of the Manual

This manual presents Mbook 3.1, an ELN solution by Mestrelab Research. It guides administrators, managers and bench users through system setup, user roles, project and group configuration, experiment creation and reporting. Special topics include integrated inventory and COSHH risk assessments, multiuser approvals, and an optional Analytical package for customer-driven service requests.

Methodology and Instrumentation

Mbook operates as a web-based application accessed via browser. It includes:

• A built-in chemical database with structure drawing and search tools (Marvin JS Sketcher).
• Stoichiometry tables with configurable columns (equivalents, volume, purity, custom fields).
• Integration with Mnova for processing NMR, MS and other analytical raw files.
• Optional modules for verification of structure–data consistency and end-to-end analytical request management.

Main Features and Discussion

Key Mbook capabilities:

• User roles and permissions for administrators, group managers, project managers, bench chemists and guests.
• Granular group and project hierarchies with subprojects, reactions and experiments.
• Rich experiment records combining reaction schemes, reagents, calculations, procedures, safety data, files and images.
• Fast structure/text searches and external database queries.
• Approval workflows for witnessing, COSHH assessments and data verification.
• Integrated inventory and stockroom tracking, including MSDS, batch control and real-time consumption.
• Configurable PDF reporting at experiment, reaction and project levels, with corporate branding and signature footers.
• Analytical module supporting instrument definition, service catalogs, client portals, request scheduling, result approval and reporting.

Benefits and Practical Applications

Mbook accelerates laboratory operations by consolidating chemical and analytical workflows into a single platform. It enhances data integrity, regulatory compliance and cross-team communication. Inventory integration reduces manual stock tracking errors. Customizable approvals and OCR–LM integration help maintain quality standards.

Future Trends and Opportunities

Emerging directions include deeper integration with laboratory information management systems (LIMS), enhanced AI-driven data analytics for reaction optimization, and expanded interoperability with cloud-based cheminformatics and process control platforms. Mobile access, automated compliance auditing and predictive safety alerts are expected enhancements.

Conclusion

As laboratories evolve toward digital transformation, Mbook presents a comprehensive ELN solution that unites synthetic and analytical data management, collaborative workflows and inventory control. Its modular design and extensible architecture position it to adapt to future scientific and regulatory requirements.

Reference

Manual of Mbook 3.1, Mestrelab Research S.L., September 2022.