UNDERSTANDING NMR CHEMICAL SHIFTS

The NMR chemical shift serves as a paradigm for molecular electronic properties. We consider the factors that determine the general magnitudes of the shifts, the state of the art in theoretical calculations, the nature of the shielding tensor, and the multidimensional shielding surface that describes the variation of the shielding with nuclear positions. We also examine the nature of the intermolecular shielding surface as a general example of a supermolecule property surface. The observed chemical shift in the zero-pressure limit is determined not only by the value of the shielding at the equilibrium geometry, but the dynamic average over the multidimensional shielding surface during rotation and vibration of the molecule. In the gas, solution, or adsorbed phase it is an average of the intermolecular shielding surface over all the configurations of the molecule with its neighbors. The temperature dependence of the chemical shift in the isolated molecule, the changes upon isotopic substitution, the changes with environment, are well characterized experimentally so that quantum mechanical descriptions of electronic structure and theories related to dynamics averaging of any electronic property can be subjected to stringent test.