A nuclear magnetic resonance determination of the barrier to internal rotation in phenylethane

The long-range nuclear spin-spin coupling constant between the methylene protons and the ring protons at the para position in 3,5-dibromo-phenylethane in benzene solution is consistent with a two-fold barrier of 1.2 ± 0.1 kcal/mole to rotation about the sp²-sp³ carbon-carbon bond, in agreement with thermodynamic data on phenylethane and with deductions based on hyperfine interactions in related radical anions. The low-energy conformation has a plane of symmetry, the methyl group being situated out of the aromatic plane, in disagreement with Raman depolarization data interpretations and with deductions based on proton chemical shifts.