The Chemistry Department is purchasing a wide-bore 300-MHz NMR spectrometer for use in laboratory courses and undergraduate research. Organic chemistry laboratories will use the instrument to identify compounds in reaction sequences, prove the structure of reaction products, and perform qualitative analysis. Proton and l3C spectra will be acquired by students in this course. In the second semester students will learn to use 2-D spectra for confirmation of synthesis products and for qualitative analysis. Organic Chemistry Laboratory will benefit from the automated acquisition and analysis software, which allows quick turnover of samples. Advanced laboratories will build on the basis developed in that course. Physical Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Advanced Chemical Preparations Laboratories will use the spectrometer for new experiments in chemical-shielding trends, thermodynamics, kinetics, relaxation, stereoselectivity of enzyme- catalyzed hydrogen transfer to NAD(P)+, energy transduction in mitochondria, and structure and molecular modeling. The Spectrometric Identification course will teach more advanced techniques such as DEPT, HETEROCOSY, HETCOR, 2-D INADEQUATE, and NOESY. Students will learn to solve real-world unknowns that are sufficiently complex to thwart complete assignment using any one technique. Finally, the undergraduate research component of the Chemistry Major will be significantly enhanced. The new spectrometer will be used by students doing organic and inorganic synthesis tesearch; in studies of the conformational behavior of soil organic matter and its interaction with mineral colloids and pollutants under changing environmental conditions; in gas- and liquid-phase dynamic NMR studies aimed at separating intrinsic and environmental effects on conformational exchange reactions, evaluating theoretical calculations, and generating force-field torsional parameters; and in 3Ip NMR studies that simultaneously determine changes in high-energy phosphate metabolism and cardiac function .
