Accessing NMR files from the Teaching Laboratories Spectrometer for reprocessing
File transfer protocol (FTP)
Data from spectrometers is most commonly made available from spectrometers using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), one of the very early internet protocols and still in widespread use. Whilst FTP is incorporated to a limited extent within most web browsers, it is usually much easier to make use of a dedicated FTP programme. Many FTP clients exist for various operating systems, including for example, Filezilla ( and WinSCP (
This guide explains how to access the files from the Teaching Laboratories 300 MHz NMR Spectrometer from an IT Services classroom PC. You should be able to adapt these instructions in order to access spectra from your own computer. Please note if you are trying to access the spectrometer from off-campus you must first connect to the University of York campus network, for example via the VPN. See more information.
Downloading files using WinSCP
On classroom PCs WinSCP is installed. Open WinSCP from the start menu (Start | All Apps | Internet tools | WinSCP). Under File Protocol, select FTP and enter in hostname chemtl.york.ac.uk and then tick Anonymous login. It would be worthwhile to save this profile for easy access in the future.
Once you click login you will see the programme attempt to connect to the server, and if it is successful it will return a window listingall the items available on the Teaching Laboratories server, which includes NMR data.
Sample numbers are allocated when experiments are added to the NMR queue and more detail is provided in the ‘Viewing Spectra recorded on the NMR Spectrometer’ guide. You can view the list of sample numbers from the links from this page:
However, for the purposes of this guide, we will be using the spectra available within the ‘Sample NMRs for Reprocessing’ folder. If you navigate into this folder and start by downloading the ‘Ethylbromoacetate’ folder. This contains the proton and carbon folders of data for reprocessing, along with reprocessed files (both for ACD NMR (the .esp files) and example PDF files of the sort you should be able to produce after completing this learning package. You can download the folder by right clicking on the ‘Ethylbromoacetate’ folder and selecting download.
A window will open asking where you would like to save the files. Click ‘browse’ to choose an appropriate location. It may be sensible to create a new folder on your m:\ drive called ‘NMR’ for example. You will see the folder being downloaded.
You will need to be able to locate these files later to be able to reprocess these files. Whilst you only open the ‘FID’ for reprocessing, you always need to download the whole folder to be able to open the FID correctly.