Unusually large deuterium isotope effects on one-bond 13C, 1H coupling constants in trans-stilbene challenged

The reported apparent large decrease in ¹J(C-α, H-α) by 1.75±0.20 Hz on replacement of one of the olefinic protons by deuterium in trans-stilbene is due to improper first-order analysis of the ¹H-coupled ¹³C spectrum of the parent compound. Consequently, the implied conformational difference between trans-stilbene and α-deuterio-trans-stilbene, which was used to explain the result, is not substantiated.