The Chemistry Department plans to incorporate a Fourier-transform nuclear magnetic resonance (FT-NMR) spectrometer with solid-state capabilities into its undergraduate curriculum. The purchase of this spectrometer is a major part of its continuing effort to modernize the chemistry program. Undergraduates in the organic laboratory program gain first-hand experience in obtaining proton and carbon NMR spectra as part of a course emphasizing student planning and design of syntheses. Advanced FT-NMR experiments involving liquid samples clearly impact the undergraduate biochemistry, polymer, and physical chemistry laboratories as well as undergraduate research. The department has a very active undergraduate research program, with students making presentations at regional and national meetings of the American Chemical Society. A unique part of the project is that high-resolution NMR of solids is to be part of the undergraduate laboratory experience. Five new experiments involving solid-state NMR are provided for undergraduate laboratory courses in organic, analytical, physical/inorganic, and polymer chemistry. Solid-state NMR is an important tool for undergraduate research in catalytic surfaces and polymers. Recent advances in solid-state NMR instrumentation make it possible to bring solid-state NMR to an undergraduate program.
