Robin Harris

Biography

Robin Harris is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Chemistry.

Research Interest

The versatility and power of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy often make it the technique of choice in chemistry. My research interests have covered all aspects of NMR and its applications to the determination of structural features (chemical, electronic, crystallographic and macromolecular) and molecular dynamics in all phases of matter and in many different areas of chemistry. We make use of measurements of chemical shifts, coupling constants, dipolar and quadrupolar interactions, bandshapes and relaxation times to obtain information for both homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. I have recently had special interest in: Relationships between NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Crystal structure. Polymorphism (e.g. of pharmaceutical compounds). Analysis of solid-state spectra to obtain information about dipolar interactions (and hence molecular geometry) and shielding anisotropy. High-resolution NMR of abundant spins (1H and 19F) in solids using specialised pulse sequences. Applications to hydrogen bonding. DFT Computuations of shielding for crystalline solids. Inter- and intra-molecular influences on chemical shifts. Spectra of heavy metals (such as 119Sn, 195Pt and 207Pb). Applications to organometallic chemistry. Materials chemistry. Multinuclear (29Si, 27Al, 17O, 15N etc.) studies of ceramic compounds.