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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

A Study of the Complexation of Mercury(II) with Dicysteinyl Tetrapeptides by Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry
Published on: January 8, 2016
NMR measurements and density functional calculations of the 199Hg-13C spin-spin coupling tensor in methylmercury
Jochen Autschbach1, Anu M Kantola, Jukka Jokisaari
1Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Buffalo, 312 Natural Sciences Complex, Buffalo, New York 14260-3000, USA. jochena@buffalo.edu
Abstract:
The isotropic average, JisoHgC, and the anisotropy, DeltaJHgC, of the 199Hg-13C spin-spin coupling tensor in methylmercury halides, CH3HgX (X=Cl, Br, I), were determined for the first time by utilizing the NMR spectra of these molecules dissolved in liquid crystals. Furthermore, density functional calculations were performed using the zeroth-order regular approximation, including also dimethylmercury. The temperature-dependence of the JisoHgC couplings in the isotropic phase was studied in each case in order to extrapolate their values into the liquid crystal state. Good agreement is found between the experimental and the calculated DeltaJHgC values as long as solvent effects are considered in the computations. Most of the magnitude of DeltaJ can be attributed to the spin mechanism of J-coupling, with additional sizable spin-orbital cross terms due to electronic spin-orbit coupling.
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