Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Explained (

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance or NMR is a spectroscopic technique that uses the difference in spin state of nuclei to infer details about the structure of the molecule, including the arrangement of atoms and the nature of chemical bonds.

NMR can only be used on nuclei that have an odd mass number, such as ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁹F, since these nuclei have the property known as spin. Due to their spin, they create a small magnetic field with a magnetic moment.

NMR works by applying a strong external magnetic field, causing any nuclei with a spin state and subsequent magnetic moment to align with the magnetic field. The sample is then exposed to bursts of radio waves of the right frequency, causing the nuclei to flip from aligning with the magnetic field to aligning against it. In other words the nuclei move from a lower energy state to a higher energy state. When the nuclei moves from this higher energy state back to its lower energy state, it reemits the radio-frequency which can be measured. Then Fourier transformation is used to produce NMR spectra with a signal for each different nucleus.

But how do you interpret the resulting NMR spectra? Click this video to find out, where I explain chemical shifting and how it relates to interpreting NMR spectra!

Sources:
Dais, P., & Spyros, A. (2012, January 1). *Nuclear magnetic resonance*. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/...

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