A 200 MHZ Fourier Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FT-NMR) spectrometer has been purchased for the improvement of the undergraduate chemistry laboratories. Students are introduced to FT-NMR in General Chemistry, where not only chemistry majors, but biology, physics and environmental science majors have a chance to use it. Each year as the students move through the chemistry curriculum they build on the previous experience, so that by the time they are seniors they are as familiar with the NMR as they are with other instrumentation. While some of the undergraduate courses already include theory and spectral interpretation of basic 1- and more sophisticated 2-D NMR experiments for analyses of chemical structures, the hands-on experience gives the students a greater appreciation for what the instrument can do in elucidating structures and identifying compounds. This low-maintenance, versatile, fast, and easy-to-use FT-NMR spectrometer with related computer support is ideally suited for use by students in laboratory courses throughout the chemistry curriculum.
