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Introduction to Practical EPR Spectroscopy

  • 1st Edition - March 1, 2027
  • Latest edition
  • Author: Wilfred R. Hagen
  • Language: English

Introduction to Practical Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectroscopy of randomly oriented molecules finds wide application in chemistry, biology, and many other relate… Read more

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Description

Introduction to Practical Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectroscopy of randomly oriented molecules finds wide application in chemistry, biology, and many other related disciplines. This graduate-level text guides the reader along the winding road of the undocumented pitfalls and unwritten rules-of-thumb that come with undertaking practical EPR spectroscopy. The aim is to provide a truly practical and complete introduction to this widely used method. With the required quantum mechanics limited to an indispensable minimum, the book comprehensively treats the basic theoretical and practical aspects of the methodology to educate the reader to the level of an independent EPR researcher in all aspects, including problem posing, sample preparation, machine operation, data collection and interpretation, numerical analysis, and scientific reporting.

Many EPR books have been written as expositions of the quantum-mechanical background of magnetic resonance, but without addressing critical practical questions in the lab including but not limited to:
  • what knobs to turn
  • how to make samples
  • what programs to use (or not use)
  • how to present experimental results
Introduction to Practical EPR Spectroscopy offers a complete preparation (both theoretical and practical) to be an independent EPR spectroscopist in what may be a non-specialist laboratory. It is written primarily for PhD, master’s and postdoctoral students and their tutors across biochemistry, organic, inorganic, bioinorganic and physical chemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, molecular physics, materials science, and geology.

Key features

  • Complete preparation tool for the reader to master all aspects of EPR spectroscopy in a research environment
  • Contains a plethora of rules-of-thumb from the author’s 50 years of experience, which are generally not documented in existing literature
  • Shows the reader how to make educated decisions on how, and up to what level, EPR data can be meaningfully analysed with numerical approaches

Readership

PhD, masters and postdoctoral students in chemistry, biology, physics, and related (multidisciplinary) fields in science and technology such as: biochemistry, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, material science, and geology

Table of contents

Section I: Getting Started

1. Introduction: The Elementary EPR of Spin Adducts

1.1. Meet the spin trap

1.2. Radical EPR spectroscopy

1.3. Hyperfine interaction

1.4. Practical spin-trap EPR

1.5. Sample preparation and handling

1.6. Simulation of spin-trap EPR data


2. A Guided Tour Along the Features of a Typical EPR Experiment

2.1. The planning phase

2.2. Sample properties

2.3. Preparation for the spectroscopy

2.4. Operation of the spectrometer

2.5. Analysis and interpretation

2.6. Possible next steps

Section II: In the EPR Lab

3. Preparing the Spectrometer for Operation

3.1. Basic safety issues

3.2. Preparing the spectrometer station

3.3. Field modulation

3.4. Calibrating the modulation


4. Tuning and Running the Spectrometer

4.1. Choice of the frequency

4.2. Tuning the dip

4.3. What is a microwave bridge?

4.4. Noise damping with an RC filter

4.5. Signal averaging


5. Sample Specifications and Sample Handling

5.1. Samples and reactants

5.2. Forms of sample purity and their adjustments

5.3. Paramagnetic purity of complex systems

5.4. Samples from titrations of pH, time, Em

Section III: Tools for Analysis

6. Anisotropy and the Powder Pattern

6.1. Anisotropy

6.2. Walk over the unit sphere

6.3. Powder patterns

6.4. Alternative walks

6.5. Anisotropy in low-symmetry systems


7. The Spin Hamiltonian

7.1. The purpose of a spin Hamiltonian?

7.2. The simplest possible spin Hamiltonian

7.3. The powder pattern of a Zeeman interaction

7.4. Energy matrices of greater dimensionality

7.5. Example: Cu (II)

7.6. Transition probability


8. Interpretation of the g Value

8.1. Spin-orbit coupling

8.2. Axial example of g value shifts from SO coupling: 3d9

8.3. Rhombic example of g value shifts from SO coupling: low- spin 3d5

8.4. g Values of molecular metal clusters


9. Line Shapes and Linewidths

9.1. The basic shapes: Gaussian and Lorentzian

9.2. The role of temperature

9.3. Sources of linewidths

9.4. g Strain and its misinterpretation

9.5. Derived line shapes from indirect distributions

Section IV: Specific Problems

10. Hyperfine interactions

10.1. Central hyperfine interaction

10.2. Quadrupole interaction

10.3. Super-hyperfine interaction

10.4. Isotope enrichment effects

10.5. Tuning of hyperfine strength with frequency

10.6. Higher-order effects

10.7. Low-symmetry effects


11. High-Spin Systems

11.1. S = 1, S = n/2, S = n

11.2. Weak, intermediate, and strong field

11.3. Triplets

11.4. Boltzmann distribution over sublevels

11.5. Rhombograms and rhombospectra

11.6. Integer spins


12. Spectrum Simulation

12.1. Objectives of spectral simulations

12.2. Perturbation approach versus numerical diagonalization

12.3. Choice of platform (and program overview)

12.4. Optimization of the unit walk

12.5. Choice of language(s); choice of GUI

12.6. Code-optimization strategies


13. Quantification or Spin Counting

13.1. The external standard

13.2. Double integration

13.3. Incomplete spectra

13.4. Multi-component spectra

13.5. High-spin systems


14. Relaxation and Power Saturation

14.1. Spin-lattice relaxation mechanisms

14.2. Dependence on magnetic field and temperature

14.3. Partial saturation of inhomogeneous lines

14.4. Power-plot analysis

Section V: What could be next?

15. Advanced EPR

15.1. Quantitative dipolar interactions

15.2. Multi-frequency EPR

15.3. High-field/high-frequency EPR

15.4. Broadband EPR

15.5. Pulsed EPR

15.6. ENDOR

15.7. ESEEM

15.8. Variants ((P)ELDOR; DEER)

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: March 1, 2027
  • Language: English

About the author

WH

Wilfred R. Hagen

Wilfred R. Hagen is an Emeritus Professor of Enzymology at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He was previously Professor of Bioinorganic Chemistry at Wageningen University and Research and Professor of Physical Chemistry at Radboud University Nijmegen. He received a PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 1982 in biochemistry. His research focusses on structure and function of metalloproteins and on the theory and implementation of multi-frequency EPR spectroscopy, on which he published some 230 research papers and reviews (ORCID 0000-0002-1609-6671). He was the first recipient (1994) of the European Medal for Bioinorganic Chemistry. He has taught extensively for many years on EPR spectroscopy in International Advanced Courses.
Affiliations and expertise
Wilfred R. Hagen, Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands