Characterization of coupling constants to nitrogen. Carbon-13 chemical shifts and carbon–nitrogen coupling constants of substituted benzaldoximes

Carbon-13 chemical shifts and ¹³C?¹⁵N coupling constants of substituted benzaldoximes and of two non-aromatic oximes have been determined. The coupling constants display little variation as a function of the nature or position of substitution, which suggests that perturbations in the π electron distribution have little effect. The values are compared with the markedly different ones reported for mesitaldoxime, and, in conjunction with the observed solvent effects, are discussed within the Schulman-Venanzi framework for assessing the role of the lone-pair.