C-13 nmr spectrum of butanal analysis of chemical shifts ppm interpretation of C-13 chemical shifts ppm of butyraldehyde C13 13-C nmr doc brown's advanced organic chemistry revision notes

Advanced Organic Chemistry: Carbon-13 NMR spectrum of butanal (butyraldehyde) CH₃CH₂CH₂CHO

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Interpreting the Carbon-13 NMR spectrum of butanal

[Author © Dr Phil Brown PhD: Doc Brown's advanced level organic chemistry exam revision notes suitable for students of UK A level chemistry courses & US K12 grade 11, grade 12 and AP honors chemistry courses: Molecular spectroscopy analysis of butanal [updated Mar 20th 2026 *]

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C-13 NMR spectroscopy - spectra index

Introductory note on the 13C NMR spectrum of butanal

Students and teachers please note that my explanation of the carbon-13 NMR spectrum of butanal is designed for advanced, but pre-university, chemistry courses.

The description does not involve the chemical shift δ spin-spin coupling effects for butanal and the relative size of the carbon-13 NMR shifts does not give the ratio of the carbon atoms in the different non-equivalent chemical environments of the butanal molecule.

The most common solvent used for investigating the C13 NMR spectrum of compounds like butanal, is CDCl₃ and other deuterated solvents.

C-13 nmr spectrum of butanal analysis of chemical shifts ppm interpretation of C-13 chemical shifts ppm of butyraldehyde C13 13-C nmr doc brown's advanced organic chemistry revision notes

TMS is the acronym for tetramethylsilane, formula Si(CH₃)₄, whose ¹³C atoms are arbitrarily given a chemical shift of 0.0 ppm. This is the 'standard' in ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and all other ¹³C shifts, called chemical shifts, depend on the individual (electronic) chemical environment of the ¹³C atoms in an organic molecule - butanal here.

butanal (butyraldehyde), C₄H₈O, , , aldehyde

The molecular structure and naming of aldehydes and ketones
Interpreting the C-13 NMR spectrum of butanal

As you can see from the diagram above there are only 4 different chemical shift lines in the C-13 NMR spectrum of butanal indicating 4 different chemical environments of the carbon atoms.

CH₃CH₂CH₂CHO

Note the 4 colours indicating the 4 different chemical environment of the carbon atoms in butanal.

The 13C chemical shifts for butanal (a) to (d) on the diagram above.

(a) ¹³C NMR chemical shift of 13.7 ppm for the methyl CH₃ group carbon atom.

(b) ¹³C NMR chemical shift of 15.7 ppm for the left CH₂ group carbon atom.

(c) ¹³C NMR chemical shift of 45.8 ppm for the right CH₂ carbon atom.

(d) ¹³C NMR chemical shift of 202.8 ppm for the carbon CHO atom of the aldehyde group.

Note the decreasing effect on the chemical shift as the carbon atom is further from the highly electronegative oxygen atom of butanal.

The carbon-13 NMR spectra a provides direct evidence of 4 different carbon atom environments in the butanal molecule from 4 different chemical shifts (ppm).

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The chemistry of ALDEHYDES and KETONES revision notes INDEX

The infrared spectrum of Butanal

The mass spectrum of Butanal

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