Salts, Free Bases and Zwitterions

Sometimes, misunderstandings can arise when dealing with compounds containing protonatable centres. Hopefully, in this section, we will be able to clarify a few key issues that are relevant to such compounds. 

As we have already mentioned, CDCI3 should be avoided as a solvent for salts for two reasons. Firstly, salts are unlikely to be particularly soluble in this relatively nonpolar solvent but more importantly, spectral line shape is likely to be poor on account of relatively slow proton exchange at the protonatable centre. The remedy is simple enough - avoid using CDCI3 and opt for one of the more polar options instead, e.g., deuterated DMSO or MeOH and you should obtain spectra every bit as sharp as those of free bases. 

In practical terms, it is invariably a nitrogen atom that is protonated in salt formation. This always leads to a downfield shift for protons on carbons both alpha and beta to the nitrogen concerned. In alkyl amines, the expected shifts would be about 0.7 and 0.3 ppm respectively. Remember that some heterocyclic compounds (e.g., pyridine) contain nitrogen atoms that are basic enough to protonate and comparable downfield shifts can be expected (Spectrum 5.9). 

A misconception that we commonly encounter is that a spectrum can be a mixture of the salt and the free base. This is an excuse that is often used by chemists to explain an inconveniently messy looking spectrum Don t be tempted by this idea - proton transfer is fast on the NMR timescale (or at least, it is when you use a polar solvent ) and because of this, if you have a sample of a compound that contains only half a mole-equivalent of an acid, you will observe chemical shifts which reflect partial protonation and not two sets of signals for protonated and free-base forms. It doesn t happen - ever  

It should always be remembered of course, that the NMR spectrum reflects a compound s behaviour in solution. It is quite possible for a compound and a weak acid to crystallise out as a stoichiometric salt and yet in solution, for the compound to give the appearance of a free base. For this reason, care should be taken in attempting to use NMR as a guide to the extent of protonation. If the acid has other protons that can be integrated reliably, e.g., the alkene protons in fumaric or maleic acid, then there should be no problem but if this is not the case, e.g., oxalic acid, then we would council caution Do not be tempted to give an estimate of acid content based on chemical shift. With weak acids, protonation may not occur in a pro rata fashion though it is likely to in the case of strong acids. 

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