Improvement of the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory Curriculum with High Field NMR

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The chemistry program is among the college's strongest areas, but its further progress has been hindered by the lack of a high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. The objective of this project is to enhance the instruction and collaborative research of chemistry students by incorporating extensive hands-on use of high-field NMR spectroscopy. The chemistry program is revising six courses to accomplish this objective, exposing students to a sequence of applications of increasing sophistication. At the sophomore level, the introduction of NMR gives students more concrete examples of isomerism, conformational changes, and electronegativity, as well as elucidates the structures of unknown organic compounds and reaction products. In the junior and senior years, students explore the quantum mechanical basis and fundamental physical principles of NMR spectroscopy, as well as applications beyond structural elucidation. They also use NMR to determine magnetic susceptibility, to confirm intermediates in multistep synthesis, to calculate the diastereomeric or enantiomeric excess of reactions, and to view interesting coordination chemistry. In addition to enhancing laboratory instruction, the acquisition of a high-field NMR dramatically improves collaborative research projects in synthetic chemistry. The primary beneficiaries of this project are 140 students in six chemistry courses and eight chemistry majors per year. Other beneficiaries include 15 precollege teachers attending a summer institute in spectroscopy at the college and member institutions in a consortium, that can incorporate NMR in their chemistry curriculum.