Advanced Organic Chemistry: Carbon-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate HCOOCH3

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Interpreting & explaining the 13C NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate

[Author © Dr Phil Brown PhD: Doc Brown's advanced level organic chemistry exam revision notes suitable for students of UK A level chemistry courses & US K12 grade 11, grade 12 and AP honors chemistry courses: Molecular spectroscopy analysis of methyl methanoate [spectra page updated Mar 25th 2026 *]

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C-13 NMR spectroscopy - spectra index

See also comparing the infrared, mass, 1H and 13C NMR spectra of the isomers of C2H4O2

Introductory note on the 13C NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate

Students and teachers please note that my explanation of the carbon-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate is designed for advanced, but pre-university, chemistry courses.

The description does not involve the chemical shift δ spin-spin coupling effects for methyl methanoate and the relative size of the carbon-13 NMR shifts does not give the ratio of the carbon atoms in the different non-equivalent chemical environments of the methyl methanoate molecule.

The most common solvent used for investigating the C13 NMR spectrum of compounds like methyl methanoate, is CDCl3 and other deuterated solvents.

C-13 nmr spectrum of methyl methanoate analysis of chemical shifts ppm interpretation of C-13 chemical shifts ppm of methyl formate C13 13-C nmr doc brown's advanced organic chemistry revision notes 

TMS is the acronym for tetramethylsilane, formula Si(CH3)4, whose 13C atoms are arbitrarily given a chemical shift of 0.0 ppm. This is the 'standard' in 13C NMR spectroscopy and all other 13C shifts, called chemical shifts, depend on the individual (electronic) chemical environment of the 13C atoms in an organic molecule - methyl methanoate here.

Methyl methanoate (methyl formate) C2H4O2,  (c) doc b , (c) doc b , (c) doc b

The molecular structure and naming of carboxylic acids and derivatives

Interpreting the C-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate

As you can see from the diagram above there are 2 different 13C chemical shift lines in the C-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate indicating 2 different chemical environments of the carbon atoms.

HCOOCH3 

(Note the 2 colours indicating the 2 different chemical environments of the 2 carbon atoms in methyl methanoate).

The two 13C chemical environments of the methyl methanoate molecule are the (b) carbon atom of the methyl CH3 group and the (a) carbon atom of the CH group.

The carbon-13 NMR spectra provides direct evidence of 2 different chemical environments of the carbon atoms in the methyl methanoate molecule from 2 different chemical shifts (ppm).
Comparing the infrared, mass, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra of the 2 isomers of C2H4O2

NOTE: The images are linked to their original detailed spectral analysis pages AND can be doubled in size with touch screens to increase the definition to the original ethanoic acid (acetic acid) and methyl methanoate (methyl formate) image sizes.

INFRARED SPECTRA: Apart from the significant differences in the fingerprint region at wavenumbers 1500 to 400 cm-1, the most striking difference is the broad O-H stretching band ~3200 cm-1, found in the infrared spectrum of carboxylic acids, but absent in the infrared spectrum of esters.

MASS SPECTRA: Apart from the m/z of 60 for the parent molecular ion and m/z 15 ion [CH3]+, both ethanoic acid and methyl methanoate show few similarities in their mass spectra. Their base ion peaks are quite different - for ethanoic acid it is m/z 43 and for methyl methanoate it is m/z 31.

1H NMR SPECTRA: The 1H NMR spectra of ethanoic acid and methyl methanoate are similar with two 'wide-apart' chemical shift singlet peaks in the integrated proton ratio of 3:1 (meaning 2 different 1H chemical environments).

13C NMR SPECTRA: The 13C NMR spectra of ethanoic acid and methyl methanoate are similar, both molecules give two C-13 NMR spectral lines (meaning 2 different 13C chemical environments). The two 13C chemical shifts of methyl methanoate are much further apart.

Key words & phrases: methyl formate Interpreting the C-13 NMR spectra of methyl methanoate, C-13 nmr spectrum of methyl methanoate, understanding the carbon-13 nmr spectrum of methyl methanoate, explaining the line pattern in the high resolution C-13 nmr spectra of methyl methanoate, revising the C-13 nmr spectrum of methyl methanoate, ppm chemical shifts of the C-13 nmr spectrum of methyl methanoate, how to construct the diagram of the C-13 nmr spectrum of methyl methanoate, how to analyse the chemical shifts in the carbon-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate deducing the chemical environment of all the carbon atoms in methyl methanoate examining the c13 nmr spectrum of  methyl methanoate analysing the 13-c nmr spectrum of methyl methanoate how do you sketch and interpret the C-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate interpreting interpretation of the C-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate methyl formate Molecular structure diagram of the carbon-13 NMR diagram for the 13C NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate. Deducing the number of different chemical environments of the carbon atoms in the methyl methanoate molecule from the 13C chemical shifts in the carbon-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate. Revision notes on the carbon-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate. Matching and deducing the structure of the methyl methanoate molecule from its 13C NMR spectrum. Carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy of esters, 13C NMR spectra of methyl methanoate, an isomer of molecular formula C2H4O2 How do you interpret the chemical shifts of the C-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate How to interpret the C-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate Explanatory diagram of the 13C C-13 carbon-13 NMR spectrum of the  number of different carbon atom environments in the methyl methanoate molecule from its carbon-13 NMR spectrum to help work out the molecular structure of the methyl methanoate molecule? The uses and distinctive features of the carbon-13 NMR spectrum of the methyl methanoate molecule explained. What do the number and values of the chemical shifts from the c-13 carbon-13 NMR spectrum tell us about the methyl methanoate molecule? explaining the decoupled carbon-13 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate  with a detailed interpretation diagram of all the C-13 chemical shifts and intensities

What next? links associated with methyl methanoate

The infrared spectrum of methyl methanoate (methyl formate)

The mass spectrum of methyl methanoate (methyl formate)

The H-1 NMR spectrum of methyl methanoate (methyl formate)

The chemistry of CARBOXYLIC ACIDS and DERIVATIVES revision notes INDEX

C-13 NMR spectroscopy index

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