Analysis of long-range NMR spin-spin coupling in polyenes and the π-mechanism

The J-OC-PSP (decomposition of J into Orbital Contributions using Orbital Currents and Partial Spin Polarization) method is applied to analyze NMR spin-spin coupling constants in polyenes, which were calculated using coupled perturbed density functional theory in connection with the B3LYP hybrid functional and a [7s,6p,2d/4s,2p] basis set. The analysis revealed that the π-mechanism for Fermi contact (FC) spin coupling is based on passive π-orbital contributions. The π-orbitals transfer spin information between σ orbitals (spin-transport mechanism) or increase the spin information of a σ orbital by an echo effect. The calculated FC(π) values are rather constant for small polyenes ranging between 3.5-5.5 Hz for a double bond. They decay more slowly with the distance between perturbing and responding nucleus than the σ contributions to the FC term. The sign of the passive FC(π) contribution can be assessed from a Dirac vector model. The limits for longrange coupling in a polyene were determined and their practical implications discussed.