Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / Paper 1 / 1 / c

Spectrum 4 has one vinyl proton, two alkene-methyl groups and an ethoxy group. Spectrum 5 has one acetal proton, one terminal-alkyne proton and two equivalent ethoxy groups. Spectrum 6 has the three-proton terminal-alkene pattern and the allylic OCH${}_2$ group, together with the butanoate chain.

A, spectrum 4: ethoxy CH${}_3$ at about $1.3$ is a NMR triplet, and OCH${}_2$ at about $4.15$ is a NMR quartet. The two alkene methyls at about $1.9$ and $2.2$ each integrate to three protons; they are apparent NMR singlets on the overview but have small allylic NMR doublet splitting. The vinyl CH at about $5.7$ is correspondingly a narrow NMR multiplet, formally a quartet of quartets when its two methyl couplings are unequal, or approximately a NMR septet if they coincide. A broadened overview must not be used to declare all those small couplings exactly zero.

C, spectrum 5: the acetal CH at about $5.25$ and terminal C≡CH at about $2.55$ each integrate to one proton and show their small mutual long-range NMR doublet splitting. The ethoxy methyls give a six-proton NMR triplet near $1.25$. The OCH${}_2$ region has two sets near $3.6$ and $3.75$, each integrating to two protons. These are an ABX3 spin system: geminal coupling and coupling to CH${}_3$ produce approximately one doublet of quartets for each proton type, with second-order distortion in the expanded trace. Treating the whole region as one ideal four-proton NMR quartet misses the printed structure.

B, spectrum 6: the internal alkene CH near $5.95$ is a doublet of doublets of triplets from trans/cis coupling to CH${}_2$ and vicinal coupling to OCH${}_2$. The two terminal alkene protons near $5.2$–$5.35$ are distinct doublet of doublets-type signals, with possible additional small allylic splitting. OCH${}_2$ near $4.6$ is principally a NMR doublet. The acyl-alpha CH${}_2$ near $2.3$ is a NMR triplet, the middle CH${}_2$ near $1.65$ an approximate NMR sextet or overlapping NMR triplet of quartets, and the terminal methyl near $0.95$ a NMR triplet.

A: ethoxy CH${}_2$ ↔ CH${}_3$, $J\simeq 7\mathrm{Hz}$; vinyl CH ↔ each alkene methyl, small ${}^{4}J\simeq 1$–$1.5\mathrm{Hz}$.

C: ethoxy CH${}_2$ ↔ CH${}_3$, about $7\mathrm{Hz}$; the two OCH${}_2$ proton types have a geminal coupling of about $9$–$10\mathrm{Hz}$; acetal CH ↔ C≡CH has ${}^{4}J\simeq 2\mathrm{Hz}$.

B: internal vinyl CH ↔ trans terminal H, about $17\mathrm{Hz}$; ↔ cis terminal H, about $10\mathrm{Hz}$; terminal CH${}_2$ geminal coupling about $1$–$2\mathrm{Hz}$. Vinyl CH ↔ OCH${}_2$ is about $6\mathrm{Hz}$. Both vicinal links along the butanoate alkyl chain are about $7$–$8\mathrm{Hz}$.

Use $J=300\Delta \delta$ when a separation is measured in ppm. Thus $0.057\mathrm{ppm}$ corresponds to about $17\mathrm{Hz}$, whereas $0.023\mathrm{ppm}$ corresponds to about $7\mathrm{Hz}$. These are approximate readings, not a fitted spin simulation.

The small four-bond splittings illustrate allylic scalar coupling and acetal-alkyne long-range coupling.