Proton magnetic resonance studies of cyclic compounds—III cis- and trans-2,6-dimethylmorpholines

Commercial 2,6-dimethylmorpholine has been separated into cis- and trans-isomers by vapour phase chromatography. The PMR spectra of the bases, analysed as ABXK₃ systems (J_AK = J_BK = 0), show that the most abundant isomer has the cis-configuration, consisting probably of a single conformation in which both methyl groups are equatorial. The trans-isomer is probably a mixture of rapidly inverting and energetically equivalent conformations, since the vicinal coupling constants deduced from the PMR spectrum are averages of those expected for the two conformations.