Paramagnetic NMR of phenolic oxime copper complexes: a joint experimental and density functional study

¹H and ¹³C pNMR properties of bis(salicylaldoximato)copper(II) were studied in the solid state using magic-angle-spinning NMR spectroscopy and, for the isolated complex and selected oligomers, using density-functional theory at the PBE0_-1/3 // PBE0-D3 level. Large paramagnetic shifts are observed, up to δ(¹H) = 272 ppm and δ(¹³C) = 1006 ppm (at 298 K), which are rationalised through spin delocalisation from the metal onto the organic ligand and the resulting contact shifts arising from hyperfine coupling. The observed shift ranges are best reproduced computationally using exchange-correlation functionals with a high fraction of exact exchange (such as PBE0_-1/3). Through a combination of experimental techniques and first-principles computation, a near-complete assignment of the observed signals is possible. Intermolecular effects on the pNMR shifts, modelled computationally in the dimers and trimers through effective decoupling between the local spins via A-tensor and total spin rescaling in the pNMR expression, are indicated to be small. Addition of electron-donating substituents and benzannelation of the organic ligand is predicted computationally to induce notable changes in the NMR signal pattern, suggesting that pNMR spectroscopy can be a sensitive probe for the spin distribution in paramagnetic phenolic oxime copper complexes.