Introduction: Spectroscopy and Structure
The interpretation of data generated from instrumentation allows organic chemists to assign possible structures to new molecules or to identify existing materials. The data provided by instruments is usually in the form of graphs called spectra. To interpret spectra, a chemist must have some knowledge of the phenomena occurring within a molecule when varying amounts of energy are added to the molecule. The source of the added energy can come from interacting with high‐energy electrons (mass spectroscopy), radio waves (nuclear magnetic spectroscopy), light energy (ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy), and heat energy (infrared spectroscopy).