Environmental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: An Overview and a Primer

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a phenomenon exhibited by certain nuclei that can absorb characteristic radio frequency radiation under certain conditions. NMR has been extensively applied in molecular spectroscopy and medical diagnostic imaging. In both these applications, the molecule or subject under study is placed in a magnetic field and irradiated with radio frequency energy.
NMR spectroscopy generates a spectrum where the characteristic absorption frequencies of the sample are...

NMR spectrometers consist of a strong magnet, a radiofrequency transmitter, and a detector attached to a computer console for recording spectra of samples containing NMR-active nuclei. In first-generation NMR instruments called continuous-wave spectrometers, the resonance frequencies of the nuclei are determined by frequency-sweep or field-sweep methods. The magnetic field strength is fixed and the rf signal is swept in the former, while the radiofrequency signal is fixed and the magnetic field...

The number of nuclear spins aligned in the lower energy state is slightly greater than those in the higher energy state. In the presence of an external magnetic field, as the spins precess at the Larmor frequency, the excess population results in a net magnetization oriented along the z axis. When a pulse or a short burst of radio waves at the Larmor frequency is applied along the x axis, the coupling of frequencies causes resonance and flips the nuclear spins of the excess population from the...

When magnetic nuclei in a sample achieve resonance and undergo relaxation, the signal detected in NMR is an approximately exponential free induction decay. Fourier transform of an exponential decay yields a Lorentzian peak in the frequency domain. Lorentzian peaks in an NMR spectrum are defined by their amplitude, full width at half maximum, and position, where the peak width is governed by the spin-spin relaxation time alone. In real experiments, however, the applied magnetic field is rendered...