References are here.
1) Jacobsen, Neil E. NMR Spectroscopy Explained: Simplified Theory, Applications and Examples for Organic Chemistry and Structural Biology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience, 2007. Print.
Mathematica Code and the PowerPoint for other figures. To download the Mathematica notebooks, right click the links and Save As.:
https://vspace.vassar.edu/milueckheide/Shielding%20Factor%20Tables.pptx
https://vspace.vassar.edu/milueckheide/Wave%20Plots.nb
Thank you for your compliments! I can’t speak to the long explanations, but I can address your second question. I chose 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol because I already worked with the molecule before and knew it would be a good molecule with clean spectra to use as an intro to NMR. As for what to do with NMR information in general, if one were to undertake an organic synthesis designed to make some molecule, he would want to know if he actually made the molecule he set out to make. It becomes even more important if the synthesis has multiple steps like in the case of many pharmaceutical drugs, and there are stable intermediate molecules you want to check for while the process is going on. NMR is an easy way to determine if you’re on the right track or if something’s wrong with your plan and you’re not making the right molecules.
Very interesting stuff, and very good work. It’s clear that you did your homework researching NMR. One complaint would be that your explanations got a bit long and technical at times. This is understandable given the complicated nature of the phenomena involved, but I still feel like some things could be trimmed a bit. Another thing that I noticed was the specificity of your application of NMR. I’m clear on how the science works, but I feel like your applications of the technology were highly constrained. This is appropriate for the most part considering the nature of the project, but your research left me wondering what other techniques might be used for different molecules, and what the applications of NMR are in general. Obviously there are medical uses but what, for example, would one do with the information you discovered about the structure of 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol?
These are both relative nitpicks though. As I said above your research was clearly extensive and sound, and it was great that you got to use an NMR to obtain real experimental data that complemented your theoretical knowledge. As the majority of these projects were purely theoretical, it was great to see a tangible connection to something rigorous.
I can also tell that you had this planned from the start. The clear continuity from your project proposal to your final results speaks to a solid plan for what you wanted your project to be. Overall, very good organization, research, and attention to detail. You might have trimmed some of your explanations down a bit, and given a little bit of a broader view of the applications of NMR, but you clearly knew what you were doing.