A 19F NMR study of the transmission of electronic effects in triarylantimony and triarylbismuth compounds. A comparison with the nitrogen- and carbon-containing analogues

A ¹⁹F NMR study of the transmission of electronic effects has been made for the systems Ar₂EC₆H₄F-4 (E = Sb, Bi, CH, N). The fluorine chemical shifts obtained are correlated with the polar constants (Σσ^o and Σσ) of the substituents, suggesting that electronic effects are transmitted through the SbC_ar, BiC_ar and CC_ar bonds predominantly by an inductive mechanism, whereas the transmission through the NC_ar bonds is contributed to significantly by classical resonance effects due to competitive conjugation of the lone pair with the aromatic rings, and the substituents therein. A dual parameter correlation of the fluorine chemical shifts with the inductive (σ_I) and resonance (σ^o_R and σ_R) parameters of the substituents in the aromatic rings has led to similar conclusions. The inductive transmission through the bridging Sb and Bi atoms has been assigned to the absence of conjugation of lone pair and vacant d-orbitals of the metals with π-electron systems of the aromatic rings. On the basis of the values of the ? coefficients for the correlation equations obtained it has been established that the transmitting ability of the BiC_ar bonds is close to that of the C_alC_ar bonds and considerably lower than the transmitting ability of the NC_ar bonds.