Solution-State NMR spectroscopy is generally regarded as the premier technique to characterise polymer structure. This report provides a timely review of the developments in the NMR of polymers in solution in the past few years. The review is a useful teaching tool as well as a reference work. The author is an experienced NMR spectroscopist who has pioneered some of the techniques described in the report.

The author initially investigates NMR methodologies, followed by a section on addition polymers, which constitute the largest body of NMR literature on the Rapra Abstracts database. He initially looks at homopolymer tacticity, and then reviews homopolymer regioisomerism. Dr Cheng details copolymer sequence structures, discusses low molecular weight polymers and chain-ends, as well as branching. The addition polymers section is closed by discussing diene structures and ring-forming polymerisations. The author then turns his attention to NMR studies of condensation polymers, as well as the large and industrially-important area of thermosetting systems, before concluding with an overview of polymer reactions.

Dr Cheng is the Senior Program Manager at Hercules Incorporated Research Center in Delaware, USA. He is the author of over 100 publications on polymer studies and NMR analysis. He is a councillor for the Delaware branch of the American Chemical Society.

A Rapra Review Report comprises a concise expert overview, accompanied by an indexed section containing approximately four hundred references and abstracts from the Polymer Library. These will provide the reader of this report with a valuable reference for further information relating to the study of polymer microstructure using solution-state NMR.