The Instrumental Spectrometric and Spectroscopic Analysis of Food Flavourings - Volume I

This is the first of three volumes in this series investigating The Instrumental Spectrometric and Spectroscopic Analysis of Food Flavourings.

It comprises two sections:

Section I takes the reader from the concept of an atom as a hard, indivisible, ball through to the recognition that the atom comprises a small nucleus and electrons existing in orbitals around the nucleus whose position and momentum cannot be simultaneously determined.

The discovery of the existence of the nucleus, together with the previous discovery of the existence of the electron, led to the Rutherford concept of the atom which led on to the quantum mechanical description of the structure of the atom.

This then leads on to the application of physical techniques such as infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and multinuclear (¹H and ¹³C) magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

Section II presents pen portraits of the scientists involved in the most exciting developments in chemistry and physics. Many people claim that scientists are cold and unemotional but in reality they are normal people. One man married a circus dancer, another (being Jewish) was unable to secure a position for a couple of years and became a renowned cocktail shaker in New York City. Many of them were extremely religious and defy the modern view of many that science has disproven the existence of God.

Werner Heisenberg, the so called Father of Quantum Mechanics, was an observant Jew and once wrote: The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.

This volume leads on to Volume II where the principles of infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and NMR are applied to the determination of the structure of small molecules.

The first fifty pages can be previewed here (opens in a new tab/window) and purchased through all good online bookshops but the easiest way is through our partner Lulu.