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Updated: Dec 31, 2025

Atomic Scale Structural Studies of Macromolecular Assemblies by Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Published on: September 17, 2017
Calculating nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts in solvated systems
1Department of Chemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina.
Abstract:
The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift is extremely sensitive to molecular geometry, hydrogen bonding, solvent, temperature, pH, and concentration. Calculated magnetic shielding constants, converted to chemical shifts, can be valuable aids in NMR peak assignment and can also give detailed information about molecular geometry and intermolecular effects. Calculating chemical shifts in solution is complicated by the need to include solvent effects and conformational averaging. Here, we review the current state of NMR chemical shift calculations in solution, beginning with an introduction to the theory of calculating magnetic shielding in general, then covering methods for inclusion of solvent effects and conformational averaging, and finally discussing examples of applications using calculated chemical shifts to gain detailed structural information.
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