Pioneers of high-resolution NMR

Abstract

A few scientists with unorthodox ideas can change an entire field of research. This brief historical review of the evolution of high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy ventures to highlight the names of a small number of key pioneers who set the subject moving in new directions. Of course, there were scores of others who developed the subject over the years; only a select few have been picked out here for special mention. We shall see that these scientists often had a difficult time gaining acceptance for their innovations; indeed, this is a common theme throughout the story. At first, magnetic resonance did not seem to fit in with contemporary ideas about what was important in chemistry, there was resistance to the introduction of heavy iron magnets into the laboratory, and few believed that the technique could compete with, say, infrared spectroscopy. Yet high-resolution NMR boasted many fascinating new features that the existing classical spectroscopies lacked at that time—coherent radiation, relaxation effects, and, in particular, a unique ability to be manipulated in different ways—for example, by double resonance. As the subject developed, these manipulations became so intricate that it would be fair to say that a new science of “spin choreography” was born, in which the nuclear spins were made to perform a complex dance designed to extract all kinds of useful molecular information. NMR became a science worthy of study in its own right. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson 11: 61–70, 1999