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NMR Spectroscopy in Inorganic Chemistry (Iggo, Jonathan A.)

Article in Journal of Chemical Education · November 2001

DOI: 10.1021/ed078p1469.2

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Book & Media Reviews
NMR Spectroscopy in Inorganic Chemistry
by Jonathan A. Iggo
Oxford University Press: New York, 1999. 90 pp.
ISBN 0-19- 855890-2. $12.95.
reviewed by L. H. Doerrer
This text is like many of the other Oxford Chemistry
Primers in that it is a concise summary of an important area
of chemistry and fills a crucial tutorial niche. The text is most
suitable for undergraduate and graduate students who have
had some introduction to NMR in organic chemistry and are
active in research and reading the literature. Students who have
never seen an NMR spectrum might find the text challenging.
At least one semester of inorganic chemistry instruction is
necessary also, as the molecules themselves are not described
in detail and an understanding of classic inorganic species
such as B2H6 is presumed. The only mathematics required is
simple algebraic relationships and a pictorial use of vectors.
The text is organized in four chapters: (1) Fundamentals,
(2) Structure Determination, (3) Dynamic Processes and
NMR, and (4) The Solid State. It is well written and clearly
organized, and has an excellent table of contents and index
for quick reference to particular subjects. A short but useful
bibliography is also included to guide the interested reader
toward more detailed and mathematical treatments of the
subject.
The first chapter reviews the principles of NMR with a wide
range of examples that cleverly echo the simplest features in
1
H and 13C NMR spectra. The text clearly demonstrates that
all NMR operates on the same physical principles and allows
beginning students to expand their working knowledge of
chemical shifts and coupling constants. More advanced topics,
such as quadrupolar nuclei, are also introduced smoothly in
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 78 No. 11 November 2001 • Journal of Chemical Education
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Chemical Education Today
the same discussion. Important pertinent parameters for all
the chemical elements are tabulated and there are impressively
few typographical errors for a first printing.
The second chapter discusses many factors that may
influence chemical shifts and coupling constants in a frame-
work of basic inorganic concepts such as geometry, coordina-
tion number, and oxidation state. The information available
from more advanced techniques including multiple pulse
methods and T1 experiments is also described. Again, organic
chemistry provides several examples as a starting point for
understanding, but numerous inorganic examples, often but
not always with literature references, clarify and expand the
reader’s understanding of these techniques.
Chapter 3 covers the study of fluxional processes by NMR,
a critical topic for inorganic chemistry, but not often encoun-
tered by neophytes in organic chemistry. A clear discussion
of relative time scales in resonance spectroscopy is followed
by the fundamentals of thermodynamic and kinetic analyses.
Again, conceptual elucidation is facilitated by examples from
the literature, largely recent. As in Chapter 2, more advanced
experiments are discussed in principle, which serve to define
often-encountered experiments from the literature including
saturation transfer and 2-D exchange spectroscopy.
The final chapter covers solid-state NMR, an area preva-
lent in the literature but difficult to find accessibly described in
undergraduate texts. After reading this chapter a student will
understand the advantages and liabilities of solid-state NMR as
well as the uses of magic angle spinning and cross polarization.
I would recommend this text as an excellent summary
of material with which all graduate students in inorganic
chemistry should be familiar. It is a superb value and would
also make an excellent supplementary text for advanced under-
graduate or first-year graduate courses.
L. H. Doerrer is in the Chemistry Department, Barnard
College, New York, NY 10027; ldoerrer@barnard.columbia.edu.
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