Characteristics of  ¹³C NMR Spectroscopy

The ¹²C isotope of carbon - which accounts for up about 99% of the carbons in organic molecules - does not have a nuclear magnetic moment, and thus is NMR-inactive. Fortunately for organic chemists, however, the ¹³C isotope, which accounts for most of the remaining 1% of carbon atoms in nature, has a magnetic moment just like protons. Most of what we have learned about ¹H-NMR spectroscopy also applies to ¹³C-NMR, although there are several important differences.