NMR techniques for the investigation of solvation phenomena and weak interactions

The purpose of this review article is to present an overview of the methods, based on NMR spectroscopy, that are utilized for studying 'weak' interactions, i.e. as opposed to its more widespread use in structure determination. Needless to say, any bibliographic search with such keywords as 'NMR and solvation or hydrogen bonding' will yield an overwhelming and intractable number of references. We have, therefore, restricted our scope to NMR methods that are more specifically targeted to such interactions, with particular emphasis on the applications of quantum chemistry to the prediction ofNMR properties, with the hope of increasing the awareness of the NMR community to this rapidly developing field. Although some reviews have appeared earlier, each covered fewer specific aspects, so thatwe have been prompted in our effort by a genuine need for a more comprehensive coverage, in terms of both methodology and time line. In order to give the reader a broad idea of the themes that will be dealt with, we will start out with a general introduction to the subject, with minimal general referencing, before proceeding with a detailed exposition of methods and results.