🥼organic chemistry review

Spin–spin splitting

Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025

Definition

Spin-spin splitting is a phenomenon observed in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy where the magnetic environment of a nucleus affects the resonance frequency of nearby nuclei, leading to the splitting of their NMR signals into multiple peaks. This effect allows for the determination of molecular structures by providing information about the number and arrangement of neighboring hydrogen atoms.