ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION OF METHYL TETRA BUTYL ETHER AND BUTYL ALCOHOL USING PROTON NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE (¹HNMR) SPECTROSCOPY

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful and non-destructive analytical technique widely employed for the structural characterization of organic compounds. In the present study, a comparative ¹H-NMR based analytical investigation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and butanol has been carried out to evaluate the influence of functional groups and molecular symmetry on proton environments. The spectra were recorded in deuterated chloroform (CDCl₃) using tetramethylsilane (TMS) as an internal reference. MTBE exhibited a simple spectral pattern characterized by singlet signals corresponding to methoxy and tert-butyl protons, reflecting molecular symmetry and equivalent proton environments. In contrast, butanol displayed multiple resonance signals with characteristic splitting patterns due to nonequivalent methyl, methylene, and hydroxyl protons. Chemical shift values, signal multiplicity, and integration ratios were analyzed and found to be consistent with the expected molecular structures. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of ¹H-NMR spectroscopy for distinguishing ethers and alcohols and confirms its reliability as an analytical tool for structural elucidation and purity assessment of organic compounds.