The NMR parameters (1H and 13C chemical shifts and coupling constants) for a series of naturally occurring molecules have been calculated mostly with DFT methods, and their spectra compared with available experimental ones. The comparison includes strychnine as a test case, as well as some examples of recently isolated natural products (corianlactone, daphnipaxinin, boletunone B) featuring unusual and/or crowded structures and, in the case of boletunone B, being the subject of a recent revision. Whenever experimental spectra were obtained in polar solvents, the calculation of NMR parameters was also carried out with the Integral Equation-Formalism Polarizable Continuum Model (IEF-PCM) continuum method. The computed results generally show a good agreement with experiment, as judged not only by statistical parameters but also by visual comparison of line spectra. The origin of the remaining discrepancies is attributed to the incomplete modeling of conformational and specific solvent effects.

C chemical shifts and n J CH coupling constants have been determined both experimentally (by means of J-resolved NMR spectroscopy) and theoretically (by DFT calculations) for a series of organic molecules. With the exception of halogen-bonded carbon nuclei, a good correlation is observed between experimental and calculated data. The magnitude of the most important contributions to the spin-spin coupling constant (Fermi-contact, diamagnetic, and paramagnetic spin-orbit contributions) has been determined. The spinorbit terms are negligible or cancel out ( 1 J CH and 3 J CH ), thus leaving the contact term as the only relevant contribution, but become important for 2 J CH in aromatic (but not in aliphatic) compounds. Relativistic effects on the 13 C chemical shift of carbon bonded to a fairly heavy atom (bromine) have also been investigated. Finally, conformational effects on the long-range n J CH coupling constants has been investigated in a model alkane derivative (n-butyl chloride). The implications to structure prediction and determination by NMR are discussed.

Ionic liquids with intermediate nonpolar cationic side-chain lengths are known to have nanoscale spatial heterogeneities with nonpolar tail domains separated by a continuous polar network. In this work, we use coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to show that, when the nonpolar cationic side chain is sufficiently long, due to the stronger van der Waals interactions between the side chains, the structure of ionic liquids goes through a transition from spatially heterogeneous to liquid crystalline-like. For XMIm(+)/NO(3)(-) ionic liquids, change occurs when the number of carbon groups on the cationic side chain varies from 14 to 16. In the liquid crystal-like phase, the cationic side chains tend to be parallel to each other, while the cationic head groups and anions, although being mostly layered perpendicularly to the direction along the side chains, still form a continuous polar network.

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