Multinuclear magnetic resonance study of organomercury fulminates. The structure of mercury fulminate in solution

¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁴N and ¹⁹⁹Hg NMR data were obtained for organomercury fulminates, RHgCNO (R ? Me, Ph, CNO). The relatively slow relaxation processes effective for the quadrupolar nitrogen muclei of these compounds allow the detection of ¹⁹⁹Hg? ¹⁴N scalar coupling constants. This feature is ascribed to the presence of low electric field gradients around the ¹⁴N nucleus, owing to the presence of the mercury atom. In mercury fulminate, the ¹⁹⁹Hg nucleus appears to be coupled with two equivalent ¹⁴N nuclei, thus indicating the existence of a covalent structure Hg(CNO)₂ in solution.