A carbon-13 NMR study of some alkyl-substituted indenes. An experimental study of the baker-nathan order of hyperconjugation in the neutral ground state

Carbon-13 NMR spectra of several alkyl-substituted indenes have been assigned and analysed. For structures having an alkyl substituent in the C-2 position an increased shielding was observed for the remote conjugated positions C-4 and C-6, an alternating trend similar to that found for the 2-cycloaminoindenes. The hyperconjugative behaviour was slightly more pronounced for the methyl group compared with an isopropyl or tert-butyl substituent, a fact which supports a model where C? H σ–π interactions are more efficient than those involving C? C bonds.