- Email: [email protected]
Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy
JOURNAL
OF MAGNETIC
RESONANCE
82,434-436
(
1989)
Book Reviews Two-Dimensional NMR Spectroscopy, Jan Schraml and Jon M. Bellama. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1988,220 pages. $59.95. This book has evidently been prepared as a text for users of two-dimensional NMR with an apparent slant toward organic and inorganic chemists. The chapters are on the fundamentals of one- and two-dimensional NMR, resolved two-dimensional NMR or J spectroscopy; chemical shift correlation spectroscopy; and a summary, which is followed by an appendix which has some more-detailed information. The good points of this volume include the use of a single molecule, 2-butanol, as the “white rat” for all of the experiments. The level of the presentation is quite uniform and the sections on double-quantum spectroscopy, for example, are as easy to follow as some earlier material on J spectroscopy. The literature citation to the primary sources is relatively complete and allows the interested reader to obtain moredetailed information. For the intended audience the presentation is, for the most part, rather good and at the mathematical level of the expected audience. However, there are several problems with this book which would be relatively easy to correct. A serious failing is the low quality of the figures. Many of the figures are stacked plots which are utterly uninterpretable. If stacked plots are to be used-and they can be very informative-then special care need be taken to have a proper blackto-white ratio so that the peaks can be seen. For a text it would be useful to have all of the data shown in both contour map and stacked plot formats. In addition, while many of the spectra are shown in the nonstandard N type format (which is likely to confuse since commercial software yields P type maps) some of the data are shown in P type mode. The poor quality of the figures is a very serious drawback especially since two-dimensional NMR is so pictorial. There are a few sections in the text, especially in the discussions of multiple-quantum spectroscopy, where necessary simplifications are given as the complete story. A few well-placed qualifiers would be helpful. Phase-sensitive double-quantum-filtered COSY should be presented as the standard method. The NOESY experiment should be given a more detailed treatment since this is one of the most useful of all twodimensional procedures. Also, there is no quadrature “detection” in F, but rather selection of either positive or negative F, frequencies by combining the data of two or more independent experiments. This text could be used for a course for upper level undergraduates and graduate students whose aim is to learn about what two-dimensional NMR can do to gain more structural information about their molecules. However, the teacher would have to supplement the text with figures and other material. When a revised version of this 0022-2364189
$3.00
Copyright 0 1989 by Academic Ress, Inc. AU rights of reproduction in any form -cd.
434
BOOK
REVIEWS
435
text is prepared it would be very useful if a set of slides of the new figures was made available as a teaching aid. PHILIPH.BOLTON Chemistry Department Wesleyan University Middletown, Connecticut Practical NMR Imaging, edited by M. A. Foster and J. M. S. Hutchison. IRL Press, Washington, D.C., 1987.311 pages. $65.00; f36.00. The editors’ objective, “. . . to provide the uninitiated researcher with a thorough background. . .” is well accomplished in this book. Thirteen authors, all from the UK, present ten chapters covering general principles, siting and installation, practical testing, the image slice, an overview of clinical applications, the origin and development of tissue contrast, clinical use of contrast agents, advanced imaging techniques, in vivo spectroscopy, and safety considerations. A brief appendix discusses image artifacts. This is not primarily a book for clinicians although the chapter on clinical practice is an excellent and concise summary, and the chapter on contrast agents is outstanding. Basic research scientists, clinical research fellows, or non-MRI physicists (or the simply curious) will find this book a gold mine of information. Not only clarification and description of fundamental concepts but also useful equations and tables of data make this perhaps the most useful volume of its size presently on the market. Diverse subjects such as slice profile variations, gradient versus RF echoes, solvent suppression sequences (and specific coil designs) for in vivo spectroscopy, and phase encoding of flow rarely receive such uniformly comprehensive and understandable coverage in a single volume. Accurate, extensive, and timely references are provided for those seeking further clarification or detail. Unfortunately the book suffers from technical problems which are, at best, extremely distracting. Missing or exchanged subscripts, equations with missing parentheses, and missing or incorrect words in the text seriously degrade an otherwise excellent text. The quality of the images reproduced is quite variable. In some cases differences being discussed in the text are barely discernible in the accompanying images. Occasionally mediocre image quality appears to reflect results from older low-field instruments. Overall, production decisions such as paper quality and printing methods appear to have had a significant negative impact. Reproduction of digital images in books and journals is almost always accompanied by some degradation of the image. It is unfortunate that an otherwise excellent text suffers excessively in this regard. Despite these problems, this book is highly recommended to those seeking a comprehensive one-volume introduction to practical imaging. STANFORD L. SMITH University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky
OF MAGNETIC
RESONANCE
82,434-436
(
1989)
Book Reviews Two-Dimensional NMR Spectroscopy, Jan Schraml and Jon M. Bellama. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1988,220 pages. $59.95. This book has evidently been prepared as a text for users of two-dimensional NMR with an apparent slant toward organic and inorganic chemists. The chapters are on the fundamentals of one- and two-dimensional NMR, resolved two-dimensional NMR or J spectroscopy; chemical shift correlation spectroscopy; and a summary, which is followed by an appendix which has some more-detailed information. The good points of this volume include the use of a single molecule, 2-butanol, as the “white rat” for all of the experiments. The level of the presentation is quite uniform and the sections on double-quantum spectroscopy, for example, are as easy to follow as some earlier material on J spectroscopy. The literature citation to the primary sources is relatively complete and allows the interested reader to obtain moredetailed information. For the intended audience the presentation is, for the most part, rather good and at the mathematical level of the expected audience. However, there are several problems with this book which would be relatively easy to correct. A serious failing is the low quality of the figures. Many of the figures are stacked plots which are utterly uninterpretable. If stacked plots are to be used-and they can be very informative-then special care need be taken to have a proper blackto-white ratio so that the peaks can be seen. For a text it would be useful to have all of the data shown in both contour map and stacked plot formats. In addition, while many of the spectra are shown in the nonstandard N type format (which is likely to confuse since commercial software yields P type maps) some of the data are shown in P type mode. The poor quality of the figures is a very serious drawback especially since two-dimensional NMR is so pictorial. There are a few sections in the text, especially in the discussions of multiple-quantum spectroscopy, where necessary simplifications are given as the complete story. A few well-placed qualifiers would be helpful. Phase-sensitive double-quantum-filtered COSY should be presented as the standard method. The NOESY experiment should be given a more detailed treatment since this is one of the most useful of all twodimensional procedures. Also, there is no quadrature “detection” in F, but rather selection of either positive or negative F, frequencies by combining the data of two or more independent experiments. This text could be used for a course for upper level undergraduates and graduate students whose aim is to learn about what two-dimensional NMR can do to gain more structural information about their molecules. However, the teacher would have to supplement the text with figures and other material. When a revised version of this 0022-2364189
$3.00
Copyright 0 1989 by Academic Ress, Inc. AU rights of reproduction in any form -cd.
434
BOOK
REVIEWS
435
text is prepared it would be very useful if a set of slides of the new figures was made available as a teaching aid. PHILIPH.BOLTON Chemistry Department Wesleyan University Middletown, Connecticut Practical NMR Imaging, edited by M. A. Foster and J. M. S. Hutchison. IRL Press, Washington, D.C., 1987.311 pages. $65.00; f36.00. The editors’ objective, “. . . to provide the uninitiated researcher with a thorough background. . .” is well accomplished in this book. Thirteen authors, all from the UK, present ten chapters covering general principles, siting and installation, practical testing, the image slice, an overview of clinical applications, the origin and development of tissue contrast, clinical use of contrast agents, advanced imaging techniques, in vivo spectroscopy, and safety considerations. A brief appendix discusses image artifacts. This is not primarily a book for clinicians although the chapter on clinical practice is an excellent and concise summary, and the chapter on contrast agents is outstanding. Basic research scientists, clinical research fellows, or non-MRI physicists (or the simply curious) will find this book a gold mine of information. Not only clarification and description of fundamental concepts but also useful equations and tables of data make this perhaps the most useful volume of its size presently on the market. Diverse subjects such as slice profile variations, gradient versus RF echoes, solvent suppression sequences (and specific coil designs) for in vivo spectroscopy, and phase encoding of flow rarely receive such uniformly comprehensive and understandable coverage in a single volume. Accurate, extensive, and timely references are provided for those seeking further clarification or detail. Unfortunately the book suffers from technical problems which are, at best, extremely distracting. Missing or exchanged subscripts, equations with missing parentheses, and missing or incorrect words in the text seriously degrade an otherwise excellent text. The quality of the images reproduced is quite variable. In some cases differences being discussed in the text are barely discernible in the accompanying images. Occasionally mediocre image quality appears to reflect results from older low-field instruments. Overall, production decisions such as paper quality and printing methods appear to have had a significant negative impact. Reproduction of digital images in books and journals is almost always accompanied by some degradation of the image. It is unfortunate that an otherwise excellent text suffers excessively in this regard. Despite these problems, this book is highly recommended to those seeking a comprehensive one-volume introduction to practical imaging. STANFORD L. SMITH University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky