Improving Undergraduate Instruction and Research with Multinuclear Fourier Transform NMR

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This project is arranging the purchase of a 300-MHz multinuclear nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. This instrument is being used to upgrade the educational program in organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, and spectroscopy. Specific experiments and activities can be performed by the students to increase their knowledge in these fields, as well as to give them experience with modern NMR techniques. This instrument is also being heavily used in our strong undergraduate research program. Five faculty have needs that require a higher-field multinuclear NMR that cannot be met by the current instrument, so instead they are forced to send samples out to former colleagues and current collaborators. This slows down the pace of research for the students and the faculty and does not enable undergraduate student co-workers to gain experience with the type of instrument they will use in industry or in graduate school. One of the educational results of this instrument may be the development of new experiments to be published in journals such as the Journal of Chemical Education and presented at professional meetings of the American Chemical Society and the Missouri Academy of Science. The instrument can also be demonstrated to high school students and teachers and made available to them for advanced projects, if needed.