ABSTRACT
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the most useful instrumental techniques for characterizing polymeric materials. This chapter outlines the basic resonance phenomenon, including magnetic interaction so important in structure determination, instrumentation and experimental techniques. It discusses particular examples of application to the characterization of polymers. The chapter discusses the more important applications of NMR to polymers to show the wealth of information that may be derived. NMR spectroscopy is concerned with the detection of absorption or emission of electromagnetic radiation by stimulated transitions between energy levels in the system under investigation. NMR arises from the interaction of the applied electromagnetic radiation with nuclear spins when the energy levels in the latter are split by an external magnetic field. Fourier transform spectroscopy relies on the response of the magnetic nuclei to a broad band frequency source which simultaneously excites the spin system with a range of frequencies.
