Correlation of N.M.R. shifts with chemical reactivity in phenethyl systems

Abstract

Correlations between ¹H substituent-induced chemical shifts (scs) for α- and β-methylene protons in, and rate constants for base-catalysed E2 elimination from, substituted phenethyl bromides and dimethyl(phenethyl)sulphonium bromides have been obtained. The slopes of the best-fit straight lines were similar in all cases for the β-methylene protons but were found to vary with the leaving group for the α-methylene protons.