Customer Reviews

Modern Nmr Techniques for Chemistry Research (Tetrahedron Organic Chemistry)

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For one who's interested in NMR research there are several types of books that combine together to give a full picture of the field and its various aspects. The book by Derome supplies the intuitive overview of 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, which is so much needed, especially by novices in the field, and also by more experienced NMR people who need a quick reference to an NMR related technique, phenomenon or term. Starting with a good introduction to pulse NMR, the book continues to a survey of some of the main methods employed in NMR spectroscopy: NOE and its application to the measurement of internuclear distances, homo- and heteronuclear shift correlation, polarization transfer type of experiments and the use of spin echoes. The book is loaded with illustrations that help clarify the various pulse sequences and their effect on the spin systems in discussion. The language is always clear and the lack of formal rigorousness is more than compensated for by highly imaginative qualitative descriptions of the various phenomena and methods. Each chapter ends with a list of references relevant to the content of the chapter. The only problem is that the book, wonderful as it is, hasn't been updated (if I'm not mistaken) since its first edition (1987), and in such a fast moving field as NMR spectroscopy is, many additions should be made to make the book more complete. Nevertheless, the wealth of information in the book and particularly the way it is presented, makes this book a must in any NMRist library.

Derome presents a vector model of 1-dimensional NMR phenomena very clearly. I haven't found a better expression of how a collection of spins can act as a simple vector or set of vectors and obey simple rules that predict the outcome of 1-dimensional NMR experiments.

The vector treatment does not yield transparent predictions for DEPT or 2-dimensional experiments, and Derome points this out. For readers interested in learning why their DEPT or COSY or HETCOR experiments work, read up on the Product Operator Formalism (which Derome recommends in his book).

Here is the reference:

Soerensen, O. W.; Eich, G. W.; Levitt, M. H.; Bodenhausen, G.; Ernst, R. R. Product operator formalism for the description of NMR pulse experiments. Progress in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (1983), 16(2), 163-92

There are about a dozen papers that came out about the same time (prompted by Soerensen, et al's paper), but the reference above is the best, in my opinion, for someone who (like me) is not versed in advanced quantum mechanics. If you are reasonable convinced that certain states and operators exist, then you can do these calculations. You can invent your own pulse sequences (I have). The math is no more difficult than drawing pictorial vectors.

As for updates, Andrew Derome has died unfortunately.

This is an excellent book for learning the NMR basics. It is very comprehensible, thorough, and it is aimed at people who, although interested in NMR, might not have the full background to understand an in depth, quantum mechanical treatment of the subject.

I bought a second-hand copy of this book from amazon.com and am very satisfied with it. It is in almost brand new condition, with no underlinings or highlightings of any kind. Although I was at first wary of buying a second-hand book through the internet, this experience turned out to be quite satisfactory and I will likely do it again.