The prediction of (1)H chemical shifts in amines: a semiempirical and ab initio investigation

Twenty one conformationally fixed amines and their N,N-dimethyl derivatives were obtained commercially or synthesized. These included cis and trans 4-t-butyl cyclohexylamine, 2-exo and 2-endo norbornylamine, 2-adamantylamine, 4-phenylpiperidine, 1-napthylamine and tetrahydro-1-napthylamine. The (1)H NMR spectra of these amines were measured in CDCl(3) solution, assigned and the (1)H chemical shifts given. This data was used to investigate the effect of the amino group on the (1)H chemical shifts in these molecules. These effects were analyzed using the CHARGE model. This calculates the electric field and steric effects of the amino group for protons more than three bonds removed, together with functions for the calculation of two-bond and three-bond effects. The rotational isomerism about the C--N bond of the amino group was investigated by ab initio calculations of the potential energy surface (PES) about this bond at the HF/3-21G level. The resulting conformers were then minimized at the B3LYP/6-311 + + G (d,p) level. These geometries were then used to calculate the (1)H chemical shifts in the above compounds by CHARGE and the ab initio gauge-invariant atomic orbital (GIAO) method at the B3LYP/6-311 + + G(d,p) level and the shifts were compared with those observed. The compounds investigated gave 170 (1)H chemical shifts ranging from 0.60 to 8.2 ppm. The rms errors (obs.-calc.) were ca 0.1 ppm (CHARGE) and ca 0.2 ppm (GIAO). Large deviations of ca 1.0 ppm were observed for the NH protons in the GIAO calculations. The complex spectra of alkyl and aryl amines can thus be successfully predicted by both ab initio and semiempirical methods except for the NH protons, for which the ab initio calculations are not sufficiently accurate.