NMR is an essential technique for the characterization of polymer materials, either in solution in an organic solvent or in water, at room temperature or at high temperature, either molten or rubbery state, or in the solid state. The architecture, local structure and dynamics of polymer chains, as well as the determination of reaction kinetic parameters, structural parameters or quantification, are common objects of study, in fundamental, in academic and in industrial environments. NMR is a very commonly chosen analysis technique, both for its precision at the atomic level and for its robustness, for its non-invasive/non-destructive nature and for the possibility of carrying out quantitative analyses. It is in particular irreplaceable for the determination of molecular architectures and the characterization of heterogeneous materials. NMR is particularly essential when it comes to establishing relationships between structure and properties. But, in return, prior knowledge and a significative level of training are necessary to understand and interpret the obtained results, in proportion to the complexity of the experiments which are carried out.
The main objective of the school is the acquisition of an understanding of the NMR methodologies available to date for the characterization of polymer materials. The knowledge of the state of the art in this field shall allow participants: (i) to effectively understand NMR characterization in the most recent innovations in polymer materials science, (ii) to master the concepts to adapt them to their problematics in a reasoned manner (iii) to identify the relevant methodologies to meet their needs, (iv) to master the concepts for the implementation of NMR experiments, (v) to extract the maximum amount of structural, dynamic and quantitative information from NMR experiments.