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.

Polymer Yearbook 13 brings together reviews and information on the progress of polymer science worldwide, including useful and topical information such as a list of new publications in polymer science and a compilation of dissertation abstracts. This volume includes reviews of key aspects of polymer science, including contributions from Russia, and details of important publications., This volume also contains reviews on state-of-the-art Japanese research presented at the annual Spring and Fall meetings of the Japanese Polymer Science Society. The aim of this section is to make information on the progress of Japanese polymer science, and on topics of current interest to polymer scientists in Japan, more easily available worldwide.

NMR spectroscopy has emerged as one of the most important methods for the solid-state characterisation of polymers. This report gives an overview of the methods and applications of NMR to relevant polymer problems with an emphasis on how NMR can be used for materials characterisation and to understand structure-property relationships in polymers. An additional indexed section containing several hundred abstracts from the Rapra Polymer Library database gives useful references for further reading.

"Research on the dynamic properties and related molecular reorientation processes in polymer chains has attracted special attention in recent years. The solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) is one of the most important complementary techniques in the scientific testing of macromolecules. When polymer molecules make reorientation motions, a fluctuating local magnetic field is generated. Thus, the shape of the resonance line emerges as a function of temperature and reveals the activation energy of the polymer chain"--