An FT-NMR Spectrophotometer in the Undergraduate Curriculum

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This project introduces approximately 20 new experiments into the undergraduate chemistry curriculum and requires the use of a new dedicated undergraduate Fourier-transform nuclear magnetic resonance (FT-NMR) spectrometer. The laboratory courses affected include organic, analytical, physical, biochemistry, inorganic, and macromolecular. Also, the faculty is able to initiate new research projects for undergraduate student participation. In a concerted effort to improve all phases of its undergraduate instruction, the Department of Chemistry is cognizant of the fact that its majors and nonmajors face a technologically advanced workplace in all areas of scientific endeavor. It is imperative that students are able to compete effectively in this arena. One way of achieving this goal is to provide students with hands-on experience with modern scientific instrumentation and techniques. The department believes that the single most important spectroscopic technique previously lacking within the department has been a modern FT-NMR instrument. The decision to obtain one is clear given the fact that the only NMR instrumentation previously available for routine undergraduate use has been a Varian T-60, an instrument that is operationally and technologically antiquated. It is well established that modern pulsed NMR spectroscopy covers a wider range of structural information than any other single technique. The underlying purpose behind the use of the NMR is to introduce the student to relatively simple experiments in the initial laboratory course in organic chemistry and continually build up to more diverse and more important uses of NMR spectroscopy as the student progresses. Concomitant with the inclusion of experiments demonstrating the usefulness of NMR is the build up, in lectures, of the underlying principles and theory behind one- and two-dimensional NMR. The overall objective of this project is to enhance significantly the scientific education of all students who are enrolled in a chemistry-related curriculum. The effectiveness of individual experiments can be constantly reviewed and evaluated by both faculty and students.