9452027 Brittain Modern NMR principles and practice are being integrated into both lower- and upper-level courses in the chemistry curriculum. The innovations in the lecture and laboratory affect not only the department's chemistry majors, but also students enrolled in the biology and pre-professional programs. The department is networking a 200 MHz Fourier transform NMR spectrometer with broadband and variable temperature capabilities to personal computers located in a novel laboratory/computer-workstation environment in a newly designed science building to permit real-time spectral processing and discussion. The curricular changes begin in the sophomore organic chemistry sequence: NMR spectroscopy is being introduced early in the first course, and lecture discussions of isomerism, nomenclature, reactions and reaction mechanisms are illustrated with broadband-decoupled 13C spectra and 13C DEPT spectra. 1H-NMR is integrated with 13C through HETCOR spectroscopy. In the organic laboratory, the opportunity for students to generate 13C and DEPT or HETCOR spectra of their products complements the use of these spectra in lecture. The instrument also is used to illustrate phenomena such as rotational isomerism and stereo- and regioselectivity in organic reactions. In the junior year, students enrolled in Inorganic Chemistry synthesize a ligand and create a new complex, then utilize variable temperature NMR to slow the fast-exchange dynamics of reversible complexation and determine a complex dissociation constant. Senior students in the biochemistry sequence obtain and interpret COSY and NOESY spectra of neuropeptides, determining peptide secondary structural features in various chemical environments. In physical chemistry, these students utilize NMR to observe the effect of solvent on molecular conformation and perform a thermodynamic analysis of the conformational change. The instrument receives additional usage in directed studies (undergraduate research) cou rses; research projects in inorganic, physical, and biochemistry are available.
