Correlation of the intramolecular nuclear Overhauser effect with internuclear distance

Abstract

A linear relationship between the intramolecular nuclear Overheauser effect (n.O.e.) and the sixth power of the internuclear distance for protons in reasonably compact organic molecules in deuterio-chloroform solution is derived. Examples of H—H and CH3—H interactions from this work and the literature have been used to demonstrate the validity of this relationship. It is shown that application of the observed n.O.e. between two protons or between a proton and a methyl group can be used to determine internuclear distances in unknown structures.