This project supports development of a series of undergraduate experiments involving high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). These new experiments are being employed throughout the curriculum, ranging from general chemistry to undergraduate research. Many of the experiments are designed to make links between courses. For example, in collaboration with the Waymouth group at Stanford, a suite of experiments for undergraduates involving new oscillating Ziegler-Natta polymerization catalysts is being implemented. This experiment begins in organic chemistry with the synthesis of ligands and concludes in inorganic chemistry with the synthesis of the catalyst and the study of the polymerization process. Similarly, cross-disciplinary experiments are being developed involving porphyrin synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and metallation. Routine use of 1H NMR becomes possible in the large organic class, and regular use of 13C NMR and two-dimensional NMR techniques is possible in the spectroscopy class. Pre-existing undergraduate research programs in synthesis, catalysis, and protein structure can flourish with the acquisition of the new high-field NMR, and new research initiatives in polymer chemistry are being made possible. The new experiments currently under development, as well as those being planned, can be disseminated in the educational literature as laboratory manuals and journal articles, as well as presented at conferences. Research results may generate both student and faculty presentations at conferences and scholarly papers in the chemical literature.
