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Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
678
BOOK REVIEWS
are used, one called a coefficient and the other called a parameter. Similarly, Q,,, is used on page 2 17, but not defined until page 227. There are a few places where uncommon (in English) terms are used, and a few places where there are subject /verb mismatches, but most of the translation reads smoothly. Overall, I am very happy with this book and will use it extensively. It should be accessible to every person using an EPR spectrometer. R. EATON Department of Chemistry< University of Denver
GARETH
Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance Spectroscopy, 2nd ed. Frank A. Bovey. Academic
Press, San Diego, 1988. 653 pages. $49.95. ISBN: O-12-1 19752-2. Bovey’s 1969 textbook has been revised and increased in length by about 40%, with the assistance of Lynn Jelinski and Peter Mirau. Many sections remain almost as they appeared in the first edition. Symbols for field and frequency have been altered to the present usage, and references have been collected at the ends of the chapters. Major modifications include a complete rewrite by Jelinski of Chapter 2 on experimental methods, now including Fourier-transform spectroscopy and superconducting magnets, addition of a new Chapter 6 on 2D methods by Mirau and Bovey, and addition of a new Chapter 8 on solids. Extended sections on one-dimensional spinecho editing and polarization-transfer experiments, on relaxation mechanisms and methods of measuring T,, on imaging, by Jelinski, and on solvent suppression, by Mirau and Bovey, have been added. Short sections on the use of shift reagents, on heteronuclear decoupling, and on zero-field NMR have been incorporated. Lengthy appendices include tables of nuclear properties and of coupling constants, with additions of ‘J and ‘J values for carbon-hydrogen couplings. There is also a 75page section of stick diagrams of spectra for various spin systems, illustrating nonfirst-order effects, transferred directly from the first edition. Since almost anyone near an NMR spectrometer can sit down and simulate such a spectrum in a few moments, it appears that a few representative samples would be adequate. It is necessary to mention a number of points which detract from the effectiveness of the volume. In the first part of the book, lists of significant points are presented in quite small type, causing them to appear as footnotes rather than to stand out prominently. Indeed the typeface and headings in general are not very sharp and clean-cut. The reviewer searched for a time in vain for the saturated fluorocarbon entries illustrating virtual coupling referred to on page 175 as being in Table 9.1; they apparently are, I finally discovered, in another table. The reviewer also tested the index, because he wanted to find a statement he remembered about selective polarization-transfer methods. There were no entries to be found under “polarization,” “selective,” “cross polarization, ” “population,” “ sensitivity enhancement,” or “SPI,” although all these terms are discussed in Chapter 4.
BOOK
REVIEWS
679
Without rewriting a book in its entirety, the preparation of a second edition is not an easy task, but the reference listings and the spectral examples, the majority of which were taken at 60 or 100 MHz, make the book seem dated. The attempt to compress a lot of explanation in a short space leads to a feeling at some points that things are going a bit fast. For example, there is one page about multiple-quantum spectroscopy. with allusions to density-matrix and product-operator formalisms and mention of the idea of coherence, with no real explanation of any of these terms. Despite such shortcomings, the book would represent an adequate text for an introductory course in NMR, where it could be supplemented by appropriate lectures. W.S.B.
BOOK REVIEWS
are used, one called a coefficient and the other called a parameter. Similarly, Q,,, is used on page 2 17, but not defined until page 227. There are a few places where uncommon (in English) terms are used, and a few places where there are subject /verb mismatches, but most of the translation reads smoothly. Overall, I am very happy with this book and will use it extensively. It should be accessible to every person using an EPR spectrometer. R. EATON Department of Chemistry< University of Denver
GARETH
Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance Spectroscopy, 2nd ed. Frank A. Bovey. Academic
Press, San Diego, 1988. 653 pages. $49.95. ISBN: O-12-1 19752-2. Bovey’s 1969 textbook has been revised and increased in length by about 40%, with the assistance of Lynn Jelinski and Peter Mirau. Many sections remain almost as they appeared in the first edition. Symbols for field and frequency have been altered to the present usage, and references have been collected at the ends of the chapters. Major modifications include a complete rewrite by Jelinski of Chapter 2 on experimental methods, now including Fourier-transform spectroscopy and superconducting magnets, addition of a new Chapter 6 on 2D methods by Mirau and Bovey, and addition of a new Chapter 8 on solids. Extended sections on one-dimensional spinecho editing and polarization-transfer experiments, on relaxation mechanisms and methods of measuring T,, on imaging, by Jelinski, and on solvent suppression, by Mirau and Bovey, have been added. Short sections on the use of shift reagents, on heteronuclear decoupling, and on zero-field NMR have been incorporated. Lengthy appendices include tables of nuclear properties and of coupling constants, with additions of ‘J and ‘J values for carbon-hydrogen couplings. There is also a 75page section of stick diagrams of spectra for various spin systems, illustrating nonfirst-order effects, transferred directly from the first edition. Since almost anyone near an NMR spectrometer can sit down and simulate such a spectrum in a few moments, it appears that a few representative samples would be adequate. It is necessary to mention a number of points which detract from the effectiveness of the volume. In the first part of the book, lists of significant points are presented in quite small type, causing them to appear as footnotes rather than to stand out prominently. Indeed the typeface and headings in general are not very sharp and clean-cut. The reviewer searched for a time in vain for the saturated fluorocarbon entries illustrating virtual coupling referred to on page 175 as being in Table 9.1; they apparently are, I finally discovered, in another table. The reviewer also tested the index, because he wanted to find a statement he remembered about selective polarization-transfer methods. There were no entries to be found under “polarization,” “selective,” “cross polarization, ” “population,” “ sensitivity enhancement,” or “SPI,” although all these terms are discussed in Chapter 4.
BOOK
REVIEWS
679
Without rewriting a book in its entirety, the preparation of a second edition is not an easy task, but the reference listings and the spectral examples, the majority of which were taken at 60 or 100 MHz, make the book seem dated. The attempt to compress a lot of explanation in a short space leads to a feeling at some points that things are going a bit fast. For example, there is one page about multiple-quantum spectroscopy. with allusions to density-matrix and product-operator formalisms and mention of the idea of coherence, with no real explanation of any of these terms. Despite such shortcomings, the book would represent an adequate text for an introductory course in NMR, where it could be supplemented by appropriate lectures. W.S.B.