Organic Spectroscopy
Online has been designed by undergraduate chemistry students at Southern Oregon University. Thus, the site
is intended for use by undergraduates who have a solid understanding of the
fundamentals of organic and general chemistry. Of course, anyone out there
surfing the web that has a hankering
for learning how to determine the structure of small organic molecules is also
welcome.
The site is arranged in a
pedagogical order. It is recommended that those who have not had any formal
instruction in organic spectroscopy thoroughly study and/or review the NMR, IR and GC-MS Theory, Vocabulary, and Instrumentation
Schematics pages of this site and return back here when
ready. The NMR, IR and GC-MS Theory,
Vocabulary and Instrumentation Schematics pages provide fundamental
information on the various spectroscopic techniques used for structure
elucidation. It is only through a solid understanding of the basic theory and
its application to “real world” raw data that students may begin to enjoy the
subject of spectroscopy.
Now, for those of you are ready to apply and test your knowledge,
please continue reading.
The bulk of this site is
dedicated to data sets and their corresponding solution sets. The data and
solution sets are arranged in a pedagogical order, approximating the
presentation timeline of an introductory course in spectroscopy. The data and
solution sets are accessible from the site’s Homepage
as well as from the NMR, IR and GC-MS
Theory, Vocabulary, and Instrumentation Schematics page.
Once you have clicked on
the Data Sets
and Solution Sets page, it is recommended that you review the Theory and Background links for each
data set before attempting to solve the data set problems. This information is
vital for the basic understanding of the spectroscopic techniques covered in
each data set and provides information on how to go about analyzing and solving
the problems.
Each data set emphasizes a specific spectroscopic technique. NMR,
being the most common technique, is the focus of the first three data sets.
Infrared spectroscopy is addressed in data set four, while GC-MS is touched
upon in data set five. Data sets six and seven cover all of the above with
slightly more challenging molecules and also introduces advanced NMR techniques
such as DEPT and HETCOR. Thus, each data set covers compounds containing common
organic functional groups arranged in order of increasing difficulty.
All spectra presented in the data and solution sets were drawn from
the Southern Oregon University’s Spectroscopic Database. The spectra of 70
compounds were acquired on instrumentation at Southern Oregon University. The
information on this instrumentation can be viewed on our Instrumentation page.
Once you have reviewed the Theory
and Background links and attempted and/or solved the spectral problems for
each data set, you can then test your knowledge by taking a short quiz. A quiz
and its solutions are provided for each data set. Have fun and good luck!