Which of the most commonly found elements in organic molecules are suitable for NMR?

1 Answer
Ernest Z.
Jul 2, 2015

The most common isotopes used for NMR are #""^1"H"# and #""^13"C"#.

Explanation:

We have to talk about isotopes rather than elements, because an isotope must have a non-zero nuclear spin to be detected by NMR.

That's why #""^12"C"# does not give an NMR signal — its nuclear spin is zero.

Isotopes such as #""^14"N"#, #""^15"N"#, #""^17"O"#, #""^19"F"#, #""^31"P"#, and #""^ 35"Cl"# are also important in NMR, because these elements are often found in biological and pharmaceutical compounds.

Other nuclei that are used in NMR are #""^2"H"#, #""^6"Li"#, #""^10"B"#, #""^11"B"#, #""^23"Na"#, #""^29"Si"#, #""^113"Cd"#, #""^129"Xe"#, and #""^195"Pt"#.

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