Alignment of non-polar molecules—electric field effects in the 2H N.M.R. spectrum of perdeuterobenzene in solutions with nitrobenzene

Electric field experiments on the ²H N.M.R. spectrum of perdeuterobenzene, dissolved in nitrobenzene, are reported. The alignment of the polar molecules, induced by a strong electric field, is transferred to the non-polar ones and as a result their N.M.R. spectrum is modified.

Local field models, e.g. those of Lorentz and Onsager, treat the environment of a molecule as a continuum and are unable to explain the alignment of the non-polar molecules. Intermolecular interactions are essential. In an expression for the alignment these interactions are described in terms of correlation functions for the mixture.

N.M.R. and Kerr data of nitrobenzene-benzene solutions have been compared. The Kerr constant of a binary mixture is shown to depend on the alignments of both the polar and non-polar component. N.M.R. electric field experiments may be useful to separate these two contributions.