Enhancing Student Learning by Incorporating NMR Spectroscopy into the General and Organic Chemistry Curriculum

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Chemistry (12)This project provides students with an increasingly in-depth, hands-on experience in the use of modern NMR, including basic and 2-D NMR techniques as they progress through the new chemistry curriculum. Several NMR experiments are adapted from recent chemical education literature. Several expanded experiments in the Organic laboratory curriculum also utilize the FT-NMR. General chemistry students use 1H and proton-decoupled 13C NMR in several introductory experiments involving compound identification. Organic chemistry students use 1H, 13C, DEPT and 2D-NMR techniques (COSY and HETCOR) in structure determination and product identification in organic syntheses. A prominent feature of the proposed curriculum is the extensive incorporation of molecular modeling in the experiments to connect computational experiments to experimental results. Additional components are designed to: (1) develop a three-week NMR workshop for local high school teachers and students to promote interest in science, and (2) involve a number of freshman and sophomore science majors in research collaboration with neighboring four-year institutions. A comprehensive evaluation plan is designed to assess the overall impact of the project, evaluate its specific pedagogical goals and objectives, and measure student learning as the adapted experiments are implemented in the curriculum. As a result of this project, students completing the new curriculum will be well prepared for either technical employment or upper-level laboratories and research after transferring to four-year institutions.