Modern NMR Spectroscopy: New techniques, instruments help elucidate structures and dynamics in polymer studies and biochemistry

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful and indispensable tool for obtaining newchemical information. Whether it be the structure of an unknown natural product, the conformation of a peptide hormone, the internal dynamics of an insoluble protein, or the microstructure and morphology of a polymer, NMR spectroscopy figures prominently in the solution of chemical problems. Often NMR readily provides difficult-to-acquire or otherwise unobtainable information. Why has NMR achieved such an important place in chemistry today? We can attribute this to two main factors. First, new NMR techniques have proliferated during the past 10 years. Second, commercially available instrumentation has reached new standards of sensitivity, flexibility, and computational power. Taken together, these advances have led to routine NMR spectra of solids, two-dimensional NMR observation of liquids, and the ability to obtain spectra at ever-lower concentrations of materials. However, this article will not discuss the details of this new wave of techniques or dwell on major ...