Students learn optimally in laboratory courses when they are actively engaged in creating and interpreting knowledge as opposed to passively following directions. This presentation will describe strategies and experiments in which NMR spectroscopy is used to promote active learning in undergraduate organic laboratory courses. Although the use of NMR spectroscopy for molecular structure determination is a well-established component of organic laboratory courses, the use of NMR as a robust pedagogic tool for teaching students chemical principles remains relatively unexplored. A series of inquiry-based experiments will be described in which the quantitative features of H-1 and F-19 NMR are effectively exploited to teach undergraduates a range of chemical concepts. These experiments, which engage students as active learners in a research-like environment, serve to effectively demonstrate that science is a process of inquiry. Experiments in the areas of kinetics, reaction mechanisms, and product mixture analyses will be presented. Some experiments to be described involve performing chemical reactions in NMR tubes. These microscale experiments represent a safe, efficient, inexpensive, and effective means for introducing students to the principles of chemical reactivity and experimental design.

Using NMR spectroscopy as an effective tool for promoting active learning in the introductory organic chemistry laboratory course

251st National Meeting (2016)

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