Hoye Seminar Abstract

In this lecture I will show you many examples in which proton NMR spectroscopy has been used to gain insight and solve problems.  The primary field of study in my group at Minnesota is organic synthesis.  However, synthetic chemists are only as good as their purification (largely chromatography) and analytical chemistry (largely NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry) skills permit.  I am not a spectroscopist, I am a user, miner if you will, of spectroscopic information.  I assure you, I will not blow anyone away with fundamental principles of NMR spectroscopy--there are many of them I don't even know.  Rather I  will show you, by example, the incredible power of even routine NMR experiments.  The following principles will emerge: a) consider taking the 1H NMR spectrum of EVERY liquid you encounter, b) in each spectrum EVERY pixel on the screen (or ink spot on the paper) is there for a reason (and deserves at least cursory consideration),and c) spectral pattern matching is of great value (a picture is worth a thousand words).