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This enhancement of a classic laboratory experiment investigates the kinetic and thermodynamic control of a reaction utilizing ¹H NMR spectroscopy instead of melting point analysis to determine the product distribution. In this experiment, semicarbazide is reacted with cyclohexanone and 2-furaldehyde under varying buffer and temperature conditions to yield semicarbazone derivative products. After ¹H NMR analysis of the products, students compile the class data in a cooperative setting facilitated by graduate teaching assistants. As a result, students are able to analyze a larger data set in this cooperative learning environment in order to describe the product distribution of the reaction on the basis of trends as opposed to using a single data set. The application of 1H NMR spectroscopy to determine the product distribution of the reaction introduces a modern approach to study a well-established example of the kinetic and thermodynamic control of a reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solution-state characterization of sec-butyllithium in [D8]toluene was conducted by utilizing a variety of NMR spectroscopic experiments including diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy (DOSY) with diffusion-coefficient-formula-weight correlation analyses and other one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic techniques. These results suggest that sec-butyllithium exists primarily as a tetramer/hexamer mixture in hydrocarbon solvents. However, the presence of roughly 2-5 % (by mol ratio) lithium sec-butoxide in both commercially available and laboratory-synthesized sec-butyllithium solutions due to the reaction with adventitious dioxygen will lead to the formation of a 1:5 sec-butoxide/ sec-butyllithium mixed hexamer. A sec-butoxide/ sec-butyllithium mixed octamer will emerge when the proportion of butoxide to butyllithium increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a science experiment to help college students measure the solution viscosity via diffusion-ordered nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In this experiment, students explore the intermolecular forces including viscosity through numerous methods. Emphasis is on the investigation of the viscosity, a physical property based on molecular structure, using advanced NMR techniques.