Incorporation of Fourier Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy into the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum

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The Chemistry Department has been in the process of redesigning its undergraduate laboratories in order to provide students with exposure to modern chemical instrumentation and current laboratmry techniques. The department is acquiring a 200 MHz Fourier-transform nuclear-magnetic resonance (FT-NMR) that complements the department's existing instrumentation. The 200 MHz FT-NMR is replacing an inoperable 90 MHz CW-NMR, and enabling the department to expose students to nuclear-magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques frequently during their chemistry training. The sequence of laboratory exercises is allowing NMR instruction to begin early and proceed with increasing depth as students progress in the chemistry program. Microscale experiments have been incorporated into the organic curriculum, as well as the synthesis and subsequent analysis of a locally occurring dye. NMR analysis of products can contribute greatly to the instructional value of this laboratory. In the physical chemistry laboratory, the instrument is being used to determine rate constants for a reaction at equilibrium and illustrate Heisenberg uncertainty relationships evident as line broadening. Two-dimensional NMR is also being introduced, during the instrumental analysis laboratory, in the context of sequencing short peptides. The department is also integrating this spectrometer into the biochemistry and molecular biology laboratory by having students determine the sequence of a 10 base-pair DNA duplex. Exposing chemistry students to NMR theory and applications through the department's laboratory courses, including individual research, is greatly enhancing their overall research experience.