E.S.R. spectroscopy of non-cyclic enones

The π-bond model is applied to the calculation of the proton chemical shifts of a range of benzenoid hydrocarbons. The simple calculations give results which compare well with experiment and with calculations based on the ring current model. Least squares fitting of the predicted chemical shifts to the observed values can give an indication of the occurrence of local aromatic groups in larger molecules. This procedure also yields an empirically adjusted estimate of the anisotropy in the molar magnetic susceptibility from the experimental proton chemical shifts. A simple criterion for aromaticity is also given. The overall results suggest that there is no need to associate a special ring current attribute to π conjugation in aromatic molecules.