Complete 1H, 13C and 15N NMR assignment of tirapazamine and related 1,2,4-benzotriazine N-oxides

1H, 13C and 15N NMR measurements (1D and 2D including 1H--15N gs-HMBC) have been carried out on 3-amino-1, 2,4-benzotriazine and a series of N-oxides and complete assignments established. N-Oxidation at any position resulted in large upfield shifts of the corresponding N-1 and N-2 resonances and downfield shifts for N-4 with the exception of the 3-amino-1,2,4-benzotriazine 1-oxide in which a small upfield shift of N-4 was observed. Density functional GIAO calculations of the 15N and 13C chemical shifts [B3LYP/6-31G(d)//B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p)] gave good agreement with experimental values confirming the assignments. The combination of 13C and 15N NMR provides an unambiguous method for assigning the 1H and 13C resonances of N-oxides of 1,2,4-benzotriazines.