Solid-state nitrogen-15 NMR and quantum chemical study of N,N-dimethylaniline derivatives

In this study the components of the nitrogen chemical shift (CS) tensor are examined for a series of para substituted N,N-dimethylaniline derivatives. This is done through measurement of the 15N NMR spectra of powder samples and through quantum chemical calculations on the isolated molecules. Experiments and calculations show that the isotropic CS, delta(iso), decreases with increasing electron donating ability of the para substituent, in agreement with previous solution studies. More importantly, this study shows that this decrease in the isotropic (solution) CS is due to decreasing values of the CS tensor component delta(11) and component delta(33). The component delta(22) is essentially invariant to the electron donating/withdrawing ability of the para substituent. Through Ramsey's theory of nuclear magnetic shielding, it can be seen that the variation in delta(11) and delta(33), and hence delta(iso), is due to changes in the n-pi* and the sigma-pi* energy gaps in N,N-dimethylaniline. This, in turn, is a result of the change in the energy of the pi* molecular orbital with change in the pi-electron donating ability of the para substituent. The effects of nitrogen inversion on the components of the nitrogen CS tensor components are also discussed. This study also shows the feasibility of performing 15N cross-polarization experiments on nonspinning powder samples at natural isotopic abundance.