Estimation of hyperfine coupling constants of29Si nuclei in the radical anions of trimethylsilyl-substituted π-electron systems

Abstract

An attempt has been made to relate the coupling constant a _Si of a ²⁹Si nucleus in the radical anions of nine trimethylsilyl derivatives of π-electron systems to the spin populations ρ _Si and of the silicon and the substituted carbon centre , respectively. For the parameter Q _CSi of the relation an absolute value of circa 20 gauss is found, whereas Q _Si appears not to be significantly different from zero. The coupling constants a _Si calculated by means of this relation agree moderately well with the experimental values (standard error circa 0·6 gauss). An HMO model in which the trimethylsilyl substituents are treated as pseudo-π-centres, with the parameters h _Si = -1·5 and k _CSi = 0·55, reproduces satisfactorily the spin distribution in the corresponding radical anions.