Nuclear magnetic resonance studies of ketone.BF3 complexes. I. Exchange reactions in methylene chloride solution

Abstract

1H and 19F n.m.r. studies of BF3 adducts of some simple methyl ketones in methylene chloride solution have led to the following conclusions. (1) Only 1:1 adducts are formed which are not appreciably dissociated. (2) The down-field shifts of the proton resonances caused by complexation with BF3 are essentially independent of the ketone and depend only on the distance of the proton from the carbonyl group. (3) BF3 exchange is rapid on the n.m.r. time scale at room temperature, but the exchange process can be slowed sufficiently by lowering the temperature that separate signals due to free and complexed species can be observed. (4) Collapse of the 10B−11B isotope shift with increasing temperature showed that a second chemical exchange process, which exchanges fluorine among boron atoms, occurs in addition to the process of rapid breaking and re-forming of donor–acceptor bonds. A possible mechanism for this fluorine scrambling reaction is discussed.