Further Information:

New NMR Methodologies for Material Science

Dr Helen Geen

The research involves the theoretical design and practical implementation of new experimental methods in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy and is carried out within the Solid State NMR group. This is an extremely powerful technique for investigating properties such as the structure and motions of molecules in solutions and in solid materials. Recent significant advances in NMR instrumentation coupled with the wealth of modern methodology mean that such information can now be obtained routinely, and the impact on certain areas of chemistry, biology and material science has been huge. Much of the versatility of NMR spectroscopy stems from the ease with which the information content of the spectra can be manipulated to meet the needs of the experimentalist. For example, the use of methods in solid-state NMR such as "magic angle spinning" (MAS) which involves rapidly rotating the sample, and the application of radiofrequency irradiation in specially designed "multiple-pulse" trains allow important information to be enhanced while unwanted information is suppressed. My present interest in this area centres mainly on the development of new experiments for solids which make use of MAS at the highest available rates. Additionally I have been concerned with the design of a novel irradiation scheme for liquids which is based on the application of continuously modulated waveforms to simplify the spectra in place of the more traditional method of applying multiple pulse trains. Methods such as these all aim to tackle important problems in NMR spectroscopy using the most modern experimental techniques with state-of-the-art NMR instrumentation which I have recently obtained jointly with my co-worker in chemistry (Dr J J Titman) thanks to a substantial financial award made to us by the EPSRC.