[Maude79]

I am trying to determine the splitting for the various hydrogen peaks on the NMR of Ethanol (easy i know)

The problem im having is this:

HO-CH2-CH3

okay when I look at the methyl hydrogens, there are two hydrogens within 3 bonds, so (n+1) I get a triplet for the methyl group.

My problem arises when I get to the CH2. There are the 3 hydrogens on the methyl carbon AND the hydrogen on the Oxygen. SO I get (n+1)=5 as the splitting. The problem is that its supposed to be 4.

The obvious answer is to not count the hydrogen on the Hydroxyl group in the splitting calculations, however the Kaplan book specifically says that hydrogens on O N and C contribute to splitting.

Can anyone explain this to me?

[Telamond]

It's due to the quick exchange of the -OH protons with either water molecules and other ethanol hydroxyl groups.

Just treat alcohols protons as singlets and that they don't have any effect on their neighbouring groups.