The Lewis acid complexes of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl and nitrile compounds. A nuclear magnetic resonance study

Abstract

1:1 Complexes of a range of Lewis acids with crotonaldehyde (1) have been systematically investigated by 1H and 13C nmr spectroscopy. Lewis acids employed were: BF3, BCl3, BBr3, SnCl4, TiCl4, SbCl5, AlCl3, EtAlCl2, Et2AlCl, Et3Al2Cl3, and Et3Al. Chemical shift changes in 1H nuclei remote from the Lewis acid group were found to be remarkably regular and consistent. The study has been extended to tiglaldehyde (2), pent-3-en-2-one (3), cyclohexenone (4), methyl crotonate (5), and crotonitrile (6) and the relationships between the chemical shift differences associated with complexation of these have been explored.