Overview

The chapters in this collection are from papers which were presented at a symposium on solid-state NMR of polymers. A two-part program on available NMR techniques applicable to solid polymer analysis was presented at the 3rd Chemical Congress of North American held in Toronto, Ontario, June 5-10,1988. The program was sponsored by the Division of Polymer Chemistry with support provided by the Division, its Industrial Sponsors, and the Donors of the Petroleum Research Fund administered by the American Chemical Society. Co-organizers included Professor Colin Fyfe of the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada), Professor Hans Spiess of the Max Planck Institut fur Polymerforschung (Mainz, West Germany), and myself. The full-day tutorial, which was free to registered attendees, covered the range of topics. The purpose of the tutorial was to provide a basic introduction to the field so that newcomers to its present and future applications could develop sufficient understanding to learn effectively from the subsequent symposium. The first talk attempted to give listeners a feel for the way a novice spectroscopist can learn to use the various NMR techniques to explore his own areas of interest. Simple experiments can provide unique information about solid polymers that can be useful in interpreting synthetic results and in relating solid-state conformation, morphology and molecular motion to physical properties.