[c0ok1e]

I finish readin NMR chapter from the book which use H-NMR and C-NMR.. I think I understand the normal NMR but when it comes to 2D NMR chapter, I kinda confuse. IS 2D NMR totally different thing from normal NMR?

I will be using 2D NMR later in lab so I need to master 2D.

[Squirmy]

There's more than one type of 2D NMR spectroscopy. The most common are the COSY (homonuclear, 1H vs 1H) and the HETCOR (heteronuclear, 1H vs 13C).

Since a COSY has the same spectrum on the X- and Y-axes, there is a diagonal where each signal lines up with itself (if that makes sense). Those aren't very interesting, but the off-diagonal signals are useful. These tell you which hydrogens are splitting each other. For simple structures, you can often deduce this information from a 1D experiment, but for more complicated structures, a COSY can be very helpful.

The HETCOR plots a 1H vs a 13C spectrum. Since the two spectra are different, there is no diagonal. Each signal in the box tells you which carbon each hydrogen is attached to and vice versa.

[c0ok1e]

SO COSY and HECTOR are totally different stuff?
and then since HECTOR is more high tech I think most people will be using HECTOR right since it can tell you about carbon as well. Then if im using HECTOR I should be reading everything about HECTOR only and forget about COSY right?

[Squirmy]

Well, they are both types of correlation spectroscopy. The acronym COSY comes from Correlation Spectroscopy. HETCOR comes from Heteronuclear Correlation Spectroscopy, but I have seen it referred to as H,C-COSY. So, it depends on your definition of "totally different stuff".

I don't know that one is more high tech than the other...they just give different information. It's not too difficult to learn how to interpret each type of spectrum, but if you know you will only be using HETCOR, then it's up to you whether you want to learn about COSY.