Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) derives directly from the phenomenon of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR [1][2][3][4]), which is widely used by chemists to determine molecular structure. The word "nuclear" was dropped in the switch to imaging to avoid alarming patients as NMR has nothing to do with radioactivity. This book is intended mainly for chemists, who are generally familiar with the NMR spectra. After a brief overview of the technique explaining the notion of relaxation time and saturation transfer used in MRI, we will describe localization techniques, which are less well-known in chemistry. The purpose of this short chapter is not to provide a complete theory of MRI [5][6][7][8], but to understand the rest of the book concerning the action of contrast agents. We will not go into the theoretical background of the phenomena, and while it is important to have some understanding of quantum mechanics, it is not our purpose to develop this aspect. This is a "nuts and bolts" description of MRI. Whenever possible, we refer to chemists' knowledge of NMR (for example, "2D NMR").
Theoretical basis of NMR
Short description of NMRIn most cases, MRI focuses on one type of atomic nucleus, that of hydrogen in H 2 O. We will therefore only use this nucleus, termed the " 1 H proton."The physical phenomenon of NMR lies at the boundary between "conventional" and "quantum" treatment due to the small transition energies involved. Traditionally, the 1 H proton can be considered as a charged