The conformational preference and barrier to internal rotation of an equatorial 3,5-dichlorophenyl group by the J method. Derivatives of cyclohexane, 1,3-dithiane, 1,3-dioxane, and 1,3-dioxolane

We report the preparation and the analysis of the phenyl ring proton magnetic resonance spectra of 3,5-dichlorophenylcyclohexane and of the 2-(3,5-dichlorophenyl) derivatives of 1,3-dioxane, 1,3-dithiane, and 1,3-dioxolane. With the exception of the dioxolanes these compounds exist predominantly as the equatorial isomers. The J method is used to show that the phenyl moiety prefers the conformation in which the α C—H bond lies in the phenyl plane. The predominantly twofold barriers to rotation about the carbon–carbon bond between the two ring systems are 2.0 ± 0.3, 0.4 ± 0.2, 2.2 ± 0.3, 0.85 ± 0.3 kcal/mol for these compounds, in the order given above. The low value for the barrier in the 1,3-dioxane derivative agrees reasonably well with molecular mechanics calculations and with the results of calorimetric and X-ray studies on equatorial 2-phenyl-1,3-dioxane.