NMR Spectra of Polymers and Polymer Additives by Anita J. Brandolini (Repost)

Polymers are all around us. We have grown accustomed to the ubiquity of synthetic materials in our lives—in packaging, household products, clothing, and medical products, to name a few. When one also considers the occurrence of natural polymers, such as paper, wood, cotton, and wool, the prevalence of repetitive macromolecular structures becomes even more apparent. The identification and characterization of such large molecules has become an important goal for manufacturers of consumer goods, foods, pharmaceuticals, coatings, adhesives, and other products, as well as for plastics producers. High-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the chemist's most versatile tools for characterizing molecular structure, and its application to polymer solutions has provided unparalleled qualitative and quantitative information about these materials.