Nuclear magnetic resonance of 1,4-benzodiazepines. II Stereochemistry of 1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-ones by lanthanide shift reagents

The sterochemistry of some 1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benxodiazepin-2-ones, employed as psychotherapeutic agents, is deduced by proton magnetic resonance using the paramagnetic shift reagent Eu(fod)₃. the lanthanide induced shifts are computer simulated on the basis of the geometric parameters of the protons in different model structures, having intermediate conformations between a cycloheptadiene- and a cyclohepatatriene-like system. N-Desmethyldiazepam shows a conformational equilibrium between two pseudoboat forms, while the 1-alkyl substituted derivatives exist, at room temperature, in olny one boat cycloheptatriene-like conformation.