BRAINCAKERelative Peak Areas
In a 1H NMR spectrum the area under each peak is proportional to the number of hydrogen atoms in that chemical environment. Comparing the areas tells you how many protons are in each environment.
The spectrometer often shows the areas as an integration trace: a line that rises in a step at each peak. The height of each step is proportional to the area of that peak. Exam spectra may instead print the relative areas as numbers next to the peaks.
Relative peak areas give a ratio, not the actual number of protons. To find actual numbers, simplify the ratio to whole numbers and scale it so that the total matches the number of hydrogen atoms in the molecular formula.
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More in NMR Spectroscopy
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- Interpreting 13C NMR Spectra
- 1H NMR Spectroscopy
- Spin-Spin Splitting
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- Identifying O-H and N-H Protons with D2O
- Combining Techniques to Deduce Structures
All 12 lessons in NMR Spectroscopy · All OCR A-level Organic Chemistry topics