Edward Purcell and Felix Bloch discovered the basic of
spectroscopy in 1946 (see
MRI History). Nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy (
NMR Spectroscopy or
MRS) is an analytical tool, based on nuclei that have a
spin (nuclei with an odd number of neutrons and/or protons) like 1H, 13C, 17O, 19F, 31P etc.
Through nuclear magnetic principles as
precession,
chemical shift,
spin spin coupling etc., the analysis of the content, purity, and molecular structure of a sample is possible. The
spectrum produced by this process contains a number of peaks; the highs and the positions of these peaks allow the exact analysis. Unknown compounds can be matched against spectral libraries. Even very complex organic compounds as enzymes and proteins can be determined. For the wide uses of
NMR spectroscopy (from mineralogy to medicine) there is a variety of different techniques available.
See
Spectroscopic Imaging Techniques.