Characterization of phosphorus chemical shielding tensors in a phosphole tetramer: a combined experimental and theoretical study

Phosphorus-31 1D NMR spectra of a stationary powder sample of a phosphole tetramer containing two phosphorus spin pairs have been obtained at 4.7 T and 9.4 T. In order to separate 31P-31P spin-spin coupling from anisotropic chemical shielding, 2D spin-echo NMR spectra have been acquired. Phosphorus-31 CPMAS NMR experiments indicate that the two spin pairs of the tetramer are equivalent and each may be treated as an isolated spin pair. Within a given spin pair, the difference between the isotropic chemical shifts of two directly bonded phosphorus nuclei is 1.7 ppm. As well, they are spin-spin coupled by both the indirect and direct interactions, 1J(31P, 31P) = -362 Hz and RDD = 1.80 kHz, respectively. The principal components and relative orientation of the two phosphorus chemical shielding tensors have been determined using the dipolar-chemical shift technique; however, since the dipolar tensor is axially symmetric, ambiguities in the chemical shielding tensor orientation relative to the molecular framework result. Using ab initio calculations and simulations of the 2D spin-echo spectra, many of these ambiguities have been resolved. The spans and skews of the phosphorus shielding tensors for all four three-coordinate phosphorus nuclei are the same within experimental error, 115 ppm and 0.70, respectively. Combined experimental and theoretical results indicate that the phosphorus shielding tensor orientations are dictated by the local environment. For both shielding tensors, the most shielded component, δ33, is approximately 78° from the P-P bond and in the phosphole ring plane. The relative orientation of the δ33 components is described by a dihedral angle of 82°, similar to the dihedral angle of approximately 76° defining the twist of the phosphole rings about the bridging P-P bond.Key words: solid-state 31P NMR, phosphorus chemical shielding tensors, phosphole tetramer, 31P—31P spin pairs, ab initio calculations.