Multiple substituted isotopologues may be used for nuclear magnetic resonance or mass spectrometry experiments, where isotopologues are used to elucidate metabolic pathways in a qualitative (detect new pathways) or quantitative (detect quantitative share of a pathway) approach. A popular example in biochemistry is the use of uniform labelled glucose (U-C glucose), which is metabolized by the organism under investigation (e. g. bacterium, plant, or animal) and whose signatures can later be detected in newly formed amino acid or metabolically cycled products.