Analysis of the 60 Mc/sec high resolution proton n.m.r. spectra of samples of allyl chloride, allyl bromide, allyl iodide and allyl benzene both neat and in 10 % (viv) solution in CC14 yield sets of coupling constants and chemical shifts from which conclusions may be drawn concerning the relative stabilities of the rotational conformers. In allyl chloride and ally1 benzene that conformer with the substituent gauche to the proton on trigonai carbon is slightly preferred. The preference for this conformer becomes increasingly more pronounced in allyl bromide and allyl iodide.Numerous studies 1-9 have been directed at establishing the nature of rotational isomerism about the single bond joining trigonal carbon to tetrahedral carbon. It now appears reasonably certain that in many compounds the stable conformations are those derivable from the conformation (la) established for acetaldehyde 5 and propene 6 by means of microwave spectroscopy. The rotamers of monosubstituted propenes may thus be depicted as (lb), (lc) and (lc').High resolution n.m.r. has proven a useful tool in exploring rotarner equilibria and rates of interconversion in unsaturated 8,9 and saturated 10-12 systems. Its application rests on the theoretically predicted 13 and experimentally observed 14 dependence of proton-proton spin coupling constant on H 4 -C -H dihedral angle. This dependence appears to be of essentially the same form whether the adjacent protons are both on tetrahedral carbon, or whether they are on adjoining tetrahedral and trigonal carbons.15The purpose of the present work is to explore the application of this tool to the study of rotamerism in other allylic compounds, namely allyl chloride, allyl bromide, allyl iodide and allyl benzene.
EXPERIMENTAL MATERIALSSamples of coinmercial provenance were purified by distillation and gas chromatography (VPC). VPC showed no detectable impurities in the purified allyl chloride and allyl bromide, 0.6 % of unidentified material in allyl benzene, and 1-7 % unidentified material in allyl iodide which, however, could not be removed by further distillation, and presumably represented thermal decomposition products of the allyl iodide. CCb was commercial reagent grade, and showed no impurities detectable by VPC.Samples (pure, or in 10 % v/v solution in CCb) were introduced into precision ground 5 mm cells and degassed on the vacuum line ; 3 % (v/v) of tetramethylsilane was added ;