A comparative (1)H NMR study of partially deuterated 1,3- and 1,4-diols has demonstrated that intramolecular hydrogen bonds of different geometry can give rise to equilibrium isotope shifts of opposite sign in hydrogen-bond-accepting solvents such as DMSO-d(6), acetone-d(6), and THF-d(8). The sign inversion is interpreted in terms of the ability of solvent molecules to form competitive intermolecular hydrogen bonds with the diol and in terms of the limiting chemical shifts for the interior and exterior hydroxyl groups. Deuterium is shown to prefer the intermolecular solvent hydrogen bond by 10.9 +/- 0.5 cal/mol for 1,4-diol 3 dissolved in DMSO-d(6) at room temperature. Pyridine-d(5) is shown to be capable of amplifying positive (downfield) isotope shifts measured in DMSO-d(6), in some cases by as much as a factor of 3. Its use is demonstrated for the assignment of the syn or anti relative configuration of 2,4-pentanediol and for the amplification of isotope shifts used to detect intramolecular hydrogen bonds in alpha- and beta-cyclodextrin. Studies in apolar solvents such as CD(2)Cl(2) and benzene-d(6) reveal that the isotope shift is negative (upfield) for all hydrogen bond geometries studied. Larger isotope shifts are measured in benzene-d(6), and a rationale for this amplification is presented. The use of apolar solvents is particularly useful for assigning the syn or anti configuration of 2,4-pentanediol.

Density functional theory (DFT) methods were used to investigate the conformational dependence of transannular H-H coupling constants in half-cage alcohols and cage diols. Finite perturbation theory (FPT) was used to obtain the Fermi contact (FC) contributions to scalar coupling constants in three halfcage alcohols and the OH· · ·OH coupling between hydroxyl groups sharing 1,4-and 1,3-intramolecular hydrogen bonds. Transannular CH· · ·OH coupling constants in the half-cage alcohols (inner OH) were obtained as a function of the dihedral angle defining the OH orientation. In comparison with the parent compound, chlorine substituents substantially modify the conformational dependence of the transannular H-H coupling and lead to observable coupling in the hexachloro compound. This is an unusual case, wherein the conformationally averaged coupling constants are quite different than those for the minimumenergy conformations. A −1.0 Hz scalar coupling is predicted between the very crowded protons in the half-cage acetate (outer OAc) in comparison with the experimental magnitude <1 Hz. In model 1,4-and 1,3-diols the coupling constants were obtained as functions of the analogous dihedral angles. The primary effects of hydrogen bonding are the stabilization of conformations in which the positive and negative contributions effectively cancel, thereby leading to small, observed values (e.g. ≤0.3 Hz). The DFT/FPT data for transannular coupling constants are consistent with a sum-over-states analysis for the direct mechanisms involving the two bonds containing the coupled nuclei rather than indirect mechanisms associated with oxygen lone pairs. Discussed here are the prospects of using OH· · ·OH scalar coupling for structural studies of carbohydrates.