13C, 1H and 31P dynamic NMR studies of tetraalkyldiphosphanes: Barrier to internal rotation about the P?P Bond in tetraisopropyldiphosphane

The ¹H, ³¹P and ¹³C NMR spectra of tetramethyldiphosphane (1), tetraethyldiphosphane (2) and tetraisopropyldiphosphane (3) have been studied in the temperature range 30 to ?150°C and at magnetic induction up to 5.87 T. In the range ?100 to ?135 °C, the ¹H and ¹³C spectra of 3 show important changes which can be attributed to freezing the interconversion between two equivalent non-trans conformations. The line shape analysis of the ¹³C signals leads to ΔG^≠ = 29.4 kJ mol^?1 at ?113 °C for the dynamic process involved. The spin coupling parameters ¹J(PP) and N(PC) = ¹J(PC) + ²J(PC) observed for 1 in the temperature range 30 to ?120 °C show variations which could be due to a preference for the trans conformation in this diphosphane.