The Department of Chemistry is acquiring a high field fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer for undergraduate instruction in an integrated manner from the lower division through the senior course level. Eight lecture/laboratory courses involving majors and non-majors are being affected by the technology. Basic 13C and 1H one- dimensional and two-dimensional (COSY, HETCOR, INADEQUATE) NMR techniques are introduced in the sophomore Organic Chemistry course using known natural products and the students progress to structure elucidation of unknowns in Organic Qualitative Analysis. Equilibrium constants and reaction rates are being measured in Physical Chemistry during the junior year. At the senior level students study induction decay in the Molecular Structure and Reactivity course and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy in both the Advanced Inorganic Chemistry course and during participation in Senior Inorganic Chemistry Research Projects. Inorganic Chemistry focusses on molecular structure determination of main group and transition metal compounds, molecular rearrangements, and electronic structure, while projects in Organic Chemistry involve both the kinetics of molecular rearrangements of organic compounds and the structural elucidation of complex bioactive natural products.
