insertNMR

Università di Firenze
		Insert NMR Spectra into Documents
Department of Chemistry
(A PDF version of this page is available from the Handouts site)
Resources		After obtaining quality data on the spectrometer and printing a hard copy for your records, you will still need to get those spectra into various documents including peer reviewed papers, supplemental information, and dissertations. The basic process for generating the jpg, gif, or tiff files for insertaion into documents is the same for 1- and 2-D spectra: create the postscript file at the spectrometer or at a datastation; ftp the file to your computer; and finally convert that file to the desired format. This guide will help you through that process.
	Home
	How do I...
	What do I do if...
	Handouts

Figure 1. Example of a gHMQC Spectrum acquired on a Varian INOVA 400 printed as a postscript file with high resolution 1D spectra as the projections. The postscript file was converted to a jpg file for presentation (low resolution for the web).

image of a gHMQC spectrum with high resolution plots on side

Preliminaries:

Acquire, save, and process your 1D or 2D spectrum as usual. Click here for instructions.

Creating the Postscript File for 1-Dimensional Spectra:

Each time you print a spectrum you are actually creating a temporary postscript file that is sent to the printer. Therefore, creating the desired file is very similar to printing. The only difference is that the page command will include the desired filename. Thus, in VNMR:
- Setup the display as you would for printing.
- Type the printing commands as usual with the page command containing the destination filename. For example, I could type pl pscale ppf pir pltext page('filename.ps'). This will create a file containing the exact information that would be printed without the filename specification.
- If you are unsure how the file will look, simply use the same print command omitting the filename designation. This will directly print the spectrum and will be identical to the saved postscript file.
- Repeat this process for each expansion changing the filename every time.

Creating the Postscript File for 2-Dimensional Spectra (gCOSY, gHMQC, gHMBC, etc.):

In exp1, open, wft, aph the appropriate proton spectrum.
In exp3, open, wft, aph the appropriate carbon spectrum (only necessary for heteronuclear experiments).
In exp2, open, transform (wft2d or wft2d, see handouts for the specific processing protocol) 2-D experiment.
Still in exp2, setup the 2-D display as you would for printing a 2-D spectrum. Click here for instructions on interacting with the 2-D color map.
Type d2d to display a contour map which will be identical to the printed version. Adjust the verical scale if necessary.
Type plgcosy_ps for COSY-like spectra (e.g. gCOSY, NOESY) or plghmqc_ps for HMQC-like spectra (e.g. gHMQC, gHMBC, gHSQC).
Follow the on-screen instructions. When asked for the postscript filename, be sure to include the .ps extension (i.e. type filename.ps).
Repeat for desired expansions changing the filename name each time.

Transferring the Postscript File to your Computer:

Please FTP.

Changing the Postscript File to a JPEG, TIFF, or PDF File.

The most powerful tool for converting the postscript file is Adobe Illustrator®. This program will allow you to change the fonts, line thickness, add ChemDraw files, and much more.
For a simple, yet effective, means of converting the postscript to other formats, you can obtain a copy of Ghostscript and GSview for PC's or MacGSView (MacGSView runs in the Classic mode) for Mac's. Read the respective user manuals for their appropriate use.

Inserting your Spectrum into a MS Word Document or Similar.

Open the document, select a position for insertion.
Click Insert=>Picture=>From File...
Select the jpeg file of interest. Crop, size, and position as desired.

Creating NMR Images for PowerPoint Presentations.

For PowerPoint presentations, I like to have a dark background with lighter text. This makes it easier to see in a darkened room. Below is an image of how I would display an NMR spectrum using PowerPoint. If this type of presentation interests you, follow the procedure below to generate similar images.
- On a DataStation, open VNMR, load and process desired spectrum.
- Setup the spectrum display to be exactly as you want to present it within PowerPoint (you can do some cropping in PowerPOint, if necessary).
- Make sure nothing is in front of the spectrum window (e.g. the parameter window) as this will be captured as well. If the spectrum window is not up front, click Flip until it is in front.
- Right click on the Desktop, choose Applications, then Image Viewer.
- Move the Image Viewer to the side so that it does not overlap with the Spectrum window.
- In the Image Viewer, click File, Snapshot...
- Again make sure the Viewer does not overlap the spectrum.
- Choose Snap Type as Window (a click will capture a given window) or Region (left click and drag will capture a desired region).
- Click on Spectrum if using Window or Left Click and drag over desired region if using Region.
- The snapped image will now be in the Image Viewer (the colors may be distorted due to color display limits, but clicking on the window will give the correct colors).
- If the image is satisfactory, click File, then Save As...
- IMPORTANT: Choose File Format as TIFF (middle of window).
- Click in the Enter Filename: field and type the desired filename followed by .tiff (e.g. myfile.tiff).
- Transfer to your computer following procedure described on Data Archiving page. Alternatively, you can open the Firefox browser and e-mail the TIFF image as an attachment.
- Follow your presentation software's procedure for inserting the image.