Symposium
Editor: J. Kahovec
Wiley-VCH, 2005, pp. 1-175
ISBN 3-527-31323-0
Preface
Partial
order has become one of the most important themes of scientific
research in the field of both natural and synthetic macromolecular
systems. Indeed, some kind of dynamic order is the prerequisite
of any function of a molecular system, be it catalytic
function of, for example, some complex of enzymes or some
targeted mechanical, electrical or optical function of
a nanoscale molecular device. The classical tools of examining
order, such as diffraction, scattering or microscopy,
often fail to reflect partial order in a satisfactory
way. At the same time, molecular spectroscopy, mostly
represented by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and vibrational
(infrared and Raman) spectroscopy, has shown the ability
to examine order in such systems on a semi-local or even
larger scale, although its primary objective is the local
aspect of molecular structure.
Partial
order can sometimes offer a challenge to spectroscopic
methods. For instance, lowered local mobility due to molecular
ordering can broaden signals in high-resolution NMR and
lead to their complete loss in extreme cases. In a complementary
way, highly mobile disordered molecules could resist detection
by cross-polarization in solid-state NMR. However primarily
unpleasant, these phenomena were turned into an advantage
and ingeniously utilized in the characterization of structure.
The
two main branches of spectroscopic observation of molecules,
vibrational and NMR spectroscopy, have been known to reveal
somewhat complementary aspects of structure from the points
of view of their time-window (molecular dynamics) and
locality of reflected structural motifs. With the development
of new theoretical and experimental approaches, both methods
gradually overcame their respective limitations in the
recent decade. Nonetheless, their remaining differences
are an additional source of valuable information for the
examination of partial order in macromolecular systems.
All
these and other aspects were addressed by an international
conference on the Spectroscopy of Partially Ordered Macromolecular
Systems, which was held on July 21--24, 2003, in Prague,
Czech Republic. It was organized under the auspices of
IUPAC by the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy
of Sciences of the Czech Republic as the 22nd of its annual
discussion conferences on macromolecules. In this volume,
some of the most important contributions are reproduced.
J.
Krí,
Conference Chairman