NMR and Chemistry

About 20 years have elapsed since chemists started to take an interest in nuc1ear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In the intervening period it has proved to be a very powerful and informative branch of spectroscopy, so much so that today most research groups have access to one or more spectrometers and the practising chemist can expect constantly to encounter references to the technique. There is a considerable number of textbooks available on the subject but these are invariably written primarily either for the specialist or for the graduate student who is starting to use the technique in his research. The author has, however, always feIt that a place existed for a non-specialist text written for the undergraduate student giving an introduction to the subject which embraced the whole NMR scene and which would serve as a basis for later specialisation in any ofthe three main branches of chemistry. With this in mind the book has been written in two sections. The first covers the theory using a straight forward non-mathematical approach which nevertheless introduces some of the most modern descriptions of the various phenomena. The text is illustrated by specific examples where necessary. The second section is devoted to showing how the technique is used and gives some more complex examples illustrating for instance its use for structure determination and for measurements of reaction rates and mechanisrns.