Resumen de Access to NMR Spectroscopy for Two-Year College Students: The NMR Site at Trinity University

Nancy S. Mills, Michael Shanklin

• Students at two-year colleges and small four-year colleges have often obtained their exposure to NMR spectroscopy through “canned” spectra because the cost of an NMR spectrometer, particularly a high-field spectrometer, is prohibitive in these environments. This article describes the design of a NMR site at Trinity University in which spectral data from student samples from community colleges and several four-year colleges are obtained on a 300 MHz NMR spectrometer. The unprocessed free induction decay (FID) is distributed to the students via the Internet and then processed by the students at their local institutions. The success of the NMR site at one two-year college, Palo Alto College, is described along with details of the experiments chosen for analysis. Two other two-year colleges, San Antonio College and Northwest Vista College, provide additional information about the effectiveness of the site.