Question

How does NMR splitting work?

Answer 1

NMR provides information on how many hydrogen neighbors exist for a particular hydrogen or group of equivalent hydrogens. In general, an NMR resonance will be split into N + 1 peaks where N = number of hydrogens on the adjacent atom or atoms.

Explanation:

If there are no hydrogens on the adjacent atoms, then the resonance will remain a single peak, a singlet.
If there is one hydrogen on the adjacent atoms, the resonance will be split into two peaks of equal size, a doublet.
Two hydrogens on the adjacent atoms will split the resonance into three peaks with an area in the ratio of 1:2:1, a triplet.
If there are 3 hydrogens on the adjacent atoms, the resonance will be split into four peaks with an area in the ratio of 1:3:3:1, a quartet.