Hexyne - Properties - Spectral Characteristics

Spectral Characteristics

In a proton NMR spectroscopy result, 3-hexyne produces a triplet of integrated area 6H at a chemical shift of approximately 1.0 ppm and a quartet of integrated area 4H at approximately 2.2 ppm. The less deshielded triplet corresponds to the terminal methyl hydrogen atoms that experience spin-spin splitting from the adjacent methylene hydrogen atoms. The quartet corresponds to the more deshielded methylene hydrogen atoms that are spin-spin split by the adjacent methyl hydrogen atoms. The methylene hydrogens don't form a complex multiplet because the internal alkyne function that is adjacent to them does not contain any bonded hydrogen atoms with which they can interact. The overall symmetry of the molecule causes both methylene bridges to contain hydrogen atoms in exactly the same electronic environment. The same logic follows to explain the identical spectroscopic results provided by the hydrogen atoms on all methyl groups.