Spin-Label Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Spin-label electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is a versatile molecular probe method that finds wide application in molecular biophysics and structural biology. This book provides the first comprehensive summary of basic principles, spectroscopic properties, and use for studying biological membranes, protein folding, supramolecular structure, lipid-protein interactions, and dynamics. The contents begin with discussion of fundamental theory and practice, including static spectral parameters and conventional continuous-wave (CW) spectroscopy. The development then progresses, via nonlinear CW-EPR for slower motions, to the more demanding time-resolved pulse EPR, and includes an in-depth treatment of spin relaxation and spectral line shapes. Once the spectroscopic fundamentals are established, the final chapters acquire a more applied character. Extensive appendices at the end of the book provide detailed summaries of key concepts in magnetic resonance and chemical physics for the student reader and experienced practitioner alike.

Key Features:

• Indispensable reference source for the understanding and interpretation of spin-label spectroscopic data in its different aspects. Tables of fundamental spectral parameters are included throughout.
• Forms the basis for an EPR graduate course, extending up to a thorough coverage of advanced topics in Specialist Appendices. Includes all necessary theoretical background.

The primary audience is research workers in the fields of molecular biophysics, structural biology, biophysical chemistry, physical biochemistry and molecular biomedicine. Also, physical chemists, polymer physicists, and liquid-crystal researchers will benefit from this book, although illustrative examples used are often taken from the biomolecular field. Readers will be postgraduate researchers and above, but include those from other disciplines who seek to understand the primary spin-label EPR literature.

Derek Marsh has published hundreds of original papers in this area, over its 40-year period of development, and has also contributed several reviews and book chapters in this area. He is coauthor of the (now out-of-print) student-level textbook Magnetic Resonance of Biomolecules (1976) and author of the reference work Handbook of Lipid Bilayers (Second Edition to be published in spring 2012).

His studies were performed at the University of Oxford, and he earned a B.A. and M.A. in Physics, and a D.Phil. in Magnetic Resonance (1971). His graduate research focused on magnetic resonance (ESR) spectroscopy applied to magnetic investigations of transition metals in solids. He was a postdoctoral researcher in the Astbury Department of Biophysics at the University of Leeds, using magnetic resonance to study the structure and function of phospholipid bilayers and biological membranes. He also had appointments at the National Research Council of Canada, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, and the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. He has been on the permanent research staff of the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry since 1975, and was Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds from 1997 to 2010.

Dr. Marsh has been on the editorial board of numerous journals, including Chemistry and Physics of Lipids, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Biochemical Journal, and Biophysical Journal. He has authored or co-authored over 425 scientific papers to date.