Books
An Update of a Classic level for the preferred orientation of the spins ends up with the highest energy. The treatment of the chemical shift, spinspin coupling, and the analysis of complex spectra is similar to all standard introductory texts on NMR spectroscopy. Chapter 6, "The Influence of Molecular Symmetry and Chirality on Proton NMR Spectra," is well done and provides an excellent discussion of chirality and its influence on NMR spectra. NMR Spectroscopy: Basic Principles, Concepts, and Chapter 7, one of the updated chapApplications in Chemistry ters, is an introduction to pulse and FTNMR spectroscopy. The treatment is stanHarald Günther dard, brief, and rather outdated. The secJohn Wiley & Sons tion on composite pulse decoupling was 605 Third Ave. somewhat vague and disappointing, as New York, NY 10158 was the discussion of selective sensitivity 1995, 600 pp., $79.95 enhancement experiments, such as RINEPT and DEPT, which are at the heart Gunther says that the purpose of the secof modern cross-polarization and 2D exond edition of his book on NMR spectroscopy is to update the fiist edition, which waa periments. Chapter 8 presents a brief but good introduction to 2D methods; simple published more than 20 years ago. Alexamples are given. The section is folthough the book is very useful—particularly for beginning graduate students—it is lowed by an attempt to introduce the reader to the product operator formalism. only a moderately successful attempt to Beginning students may find this brief update a classic. An update was clearly introduction confusing and of little help in needed, because many dramatic changes and improvements have taken place during understanding cross-polarization and 2D experiments the past two decades. Numerous examples and the spectra used in the book, howChapter 9, on dynamic effects, is stanever were retained from the first edition. dard fare and pretty much repeats the maFor example, the first-edition spectra were terial given in the first edition. Chapter for the most part obtained on a 60-MHz 10 covers a wide range of material, includcontinuous wave (cw) NMR instrument ing more cross-polarization (INEPT, Similarly many of the references date from DEPT, etc.), rotating frame experiments, the 1960s and 1970s solid-state NMR, paramagnetic materials, chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarThe first six chapters, which comprise ization (CIDNP), and NMR imaging. Tryabout half of the book, seem to repeat the 20-year-old predecessor with few changes. ing to cover so much material in 70 pages The schematic diagram of the NMR spec- results in a very cursory overview. It would have been better, in my view, to trometer used in Chapter 1 shows a 1960 vintage, crossed-coil proton spectrometer cover less material and give more details. Here, again, many of the references are equipped with a permanent (or electro-) from the 1970s. The last chapter is a stanmagnet and an x^plotter. The convention dard introduction to carbon-13 NMR the used for the B0 magnetic field (along the references again are out of date negative 2-axis) is such that the energy 262 A
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, April 1, 1996
In summary, this is a useful book for first-year students in synthetic chemistry who want a readable introduction to the basic principles of one-dimensional proton and carbon NMR spectroscopy. It provides excellent treatments of chirality and dynamic processes. Despite some shortcomings, this is a fine book that complements many of the more modern treatments of NMR It could well be included on the list of required reading for any serious graduate student in synthetic chemistry. Reviewed by Thomas C. FarFar, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Introductory Chromatography
Principles and Practice off Modern Chromatographic Methods K. Robards, P. R. Haddad, and P. E. Jackson Academic Press 1250 Sixth Ave. San Diego, CA 92101 1995, 495 pp.. $55
For people who would like to own one book about chromatography, this is probably not it. It is a hodgepodge of styles and intent. GC and SFC seem to be described by an outside observer with little practi-
