Spin—Rotation Contribution to the Relaxation Time of the Fluorine Nuclei in Benzotrifluoride

Abstract

The relaxation time of the fluorine nuclei in benzotrifluoride has been measured and is found to be an only slightly varying function of temperature, ranging from 3.2 sec at −20°C to 2.4 sec at +50°C. The contributions to the relaxation time from the dipole—dipole and spin—rotation interactions have been separately calculated, and the effective spin—rotation coupling constant is calculated to be 25±2 kc/sec. This coupling constant has been used to calculate the paramagnetic contribution to the chemical shift of the fluorine in C₇H₅F₃ relative to F₂, and yields the value, 453 ppm, which is within 10% of the observed value or 493.3 ppm for the chemical shift.