K. Kamienska-Trela (Ed.): Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Volume 40. Specialist Periodical Reports of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Abstract

This volume is a compilation and summary of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy literature from June 2009 to May 2010 and is the latest in a long line of similar volumes, the first being published in 1972. Selected aspects of NMR spectroscopy are chosen for each volume, because it would indeed be impossible to cover the whole of the NMR literature for even one year in a single volume. In this edition, the first chapter lists NMR books and reviews for the period in question, these alone providing 635 references. The next two chapters describe research into theoretical and physical aspects of nuclear shielding (the property giving rise to the chemical shift) including full tensor calculations and isotope shifts, followed by applications of nuclear shielding, covering comprehensively all of the various nuclides that give rise to NMR spectra. Similarly the next two chapters cover theoretical aspects of spin–spin couplings (by this is meant only the indirect or J-coupling, although there is a short section on residual dipolar couplings as seen in oriented samples), again covering a wide range of nuclear pairs and also anisotropy in the J tensor, followed by applications of spin–spin couplings for many pairs of nuclides, listing interactions over one, two, three and more bonds, plus through-space effects and couplings across hydrogen bonds. One section lists new pulse methods for obtaining J-coupling values. Next comes an excellent critical review chapter on nuclear spin relaxation in liquids and gases covering theory, experimental methods and selected applications. This is followed by a chapter on solid state NMR spectroscopy, describing new experimental methods, determination of NMR parameters for both spin one-half and quadrupolar nuclei, and applications ranging over organic and inorganic systems, amino acids, peptides and proteins, biomedical and pharmaceutical systems, coals, polymers, glasses, porous solids and surfaces. There are also subsequent chapters on applications of NMR spectroscopy to proteins and nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids and membranes, synthetic macromolecules, liquid crystals and micellar solutions and finally NMR in living systems, including new methodologies. The fields chosen are all very active, ranging over physical, organic, analytical and biological chemistry, with much research being undertaken across the world. The coverage of the literature has resulted in thousands of citations just in these selected fields, with several chapters providing over 400 references. Whilst the book provides a comprehensive compilation of the literature over the designated 12-month period (with one chapter covering 24 months from June 2008), in general there is not a great deal of critical review of the papers cited and of course by the time the book is published even the latest references are Bibliography