9450984 Thompson The project will purchase an FT-NMR for use in a unifying theme of Molecular Structure: Theory, Synthesis, Characterization. This approach involves cooperative planning among the faculty in chemistry to ensure a sequentially significant laboratory experience with extensive student use of instrumentation and computers as the essential molecular probes. The instrument, along with our FT-IR, and GC-MS, and computers for molecular modeling are the foundation of this project. Hands-on data acquisition and interpretation experiments in NMR will be developed for all the laboratory courses beginning with general chemistry. In upper level courses and undergraduate research, students will be exposed to the utility of FT-NMR as a tool for probing molecular structure and dynamics. This contemporary approach to laboratory design and teaching, beginning at an early point in the curriculum, is expected to attract, inform and educate the following audience: prospective students; enrolled students in the sciences; students in chemistry, biology and physics as well as chemistry; regional high school science teachers; chemistry faculty from other liberal arts colleges.
