Sigma and Pi Electron Contributions to Long-range Spin–Spin Coupling Constants in the Methyl Derivatives of the Fluoropyridines

Abstract

Seven methyl derivatives of the 3- and 4-fluoropyridines are synthesized and their p.m.r. spectra are analyzed. The nuclear spin–spin coupling constants are compared with previous results for the four methyl derivatives of 2-fluoropyridine. A model in which the nitrogen atom polarizes primarily the σ electron system of the ring, leaving the π electron contribution to the coupling mechanism relatively unaffected, qualitatively accounts for the large majority of the coupling constants. For example, the coupling over six bonds between methyl protons and a fluorine nucleus, [Formula: see text] is the same whether the fluorine atom or the methyl group is placed ortho to the nitrogen atom and is little different from its value in p-fluorotoluene. The model is consistent with significant σ electron contributions to long-range couplings over four and five bonds from methyl protons to fluorine nuclei or ring protons. Evidence is adduced for resonance structures in which fluorine conjugates with nitrogen or with ring carbon atoms. An earlier suggestion, that hyperconjugation of the methyl group with nitrogen is necessary to the interpretation of the observed couplings, is dropped. Instead, a substantial polarization of the σ electron core near C-2 and -6 is invoked but apparently does not extend appreciably beyond these atoms in the ring.