NMR spin-spin couplings involving nuclei in the neighborhood of a carbonyl group. 3JCH couplings in alpha-substituted acetamides

In this work 3JCH spin-spin coupling constants (SSCCs) for the cis- and trans-conformers for alpha-X-acetamides (X = F, Cl, Br and CN) (1-4) were studied in detail since they were found to be notably different for both conformers. These differences are rationalized as originating in the changes of the strong negative hyperconjugative interactions that take place within the carbonyl group. Such changes are found to depend not only on conformation, but also on solvent. For the cis-conformers there is a close proximity between the X-substituent and the in-plane oxygen lone pair of pure p character, which affects notably their respective negative hyperconjugative interactions. Both the efficiency for transmitting the Fermi contact (FC) term through the coupling pathway of 3JCH SSCCs and its potential as a probe to study the stereochemical properties of the XH2C group are discussed.