The aug-cc-pVTZ-J series of basis sets for indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling constants has been extended to the atoms B, Al, Si, P, and Cl. The basis sets were obtained according to the scheme previously described by Provasi et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 115, 1324 (2001)]. First, the completely uncontracted correlation consistent aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets were extended with four tight s and three tight d functions. Second, the s and p basis functions were contracted with the molecular orbital coefficients of self-consistent-field calculations performed with the uncontracted basis sets on the simplest hydrides of each atom. As a first illustration, we have calculated the one-bond indirect spin-spin coupling constants in BH4−, BF, AlH, AlF, SiH4, SiF4, PH3, PF3, H2S, SF6, HCl, and ClF at the level of density functional theory using the Becke three parameter Lee–Yang–Parr and the second order polarization propagator approximation with coupled cluster singles and doubles amplitudes.

In this article, the RPA(D) and HRPA(D) models for the calculation of linear response functions are presented. The performance of the new RPA(D) and HRPA(D) models is compared to the performance of the established RPA, HRPA, and SOPPA models in calculations of indirect nuclear spin–spin coupling constants using the CCSD model as a reference. The doubles correction offers a significant improvement on both the RPA and HRPA models; however, the improvement is more dramatic in the case of the RPA model. For all coupling types investigated in this study, the results obtained using the HRPA(D) model are comparable in accuracy to those given by the SOPPA model, while requiring between 30% and 90% of the calculation time needed for SOPPA. The RPA(D) model, while of slightly lower accuracy compared to the CCSD model than HRPA(D), offered calculation times of only approximately 25% of those required for SOPPA for all the investigated molecules.

We recently showed, by analyzing contributions from localized molecular orbitals, that the anomalous deuterium isotope effect in the one-bond indirect nuclear spin–spin coupling constant of methane, also called the unexpected differential sensitivity, can be explained by the transfer of s-orbital character from the stretched bond to the other unchanged bonds [ChemPhysChem, 2008, 9, 1259]. We now extend this analysis of isotope effects to the molecules BH₄ ⁻, NH₄ ⁺, SiH₄, H₂O and NH₃ in order to test our conclusions on a wider rage of XH₄ compounds and to investigate whether the lone-pair orbitals are really responsible for the absence of a similar effect in water and ammonia as proposed earlier [J. Chem. Phys., 2000, 113, 3121].

In this work it was sought to explore the versatility of geminal spin–spin coupling constants, ²J_XY SSCCs, as probes for stereochemical studies. A set of compounds, where their experimental ²J_XY SSCCs through the X–C–Y molecular fragment are predicted to be sensitive to hyperconjugative interactions involving either bonding or antibonding orbitals containing the C carbon atom (‘coupling pathway’), were analyzed. SSCC calculations were performed for some selected examples using the second order polarization propagator approximation (SOPPA) method or within the DFT‐B3LYP framework. Hyperconjugative interactions were calculated within the Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) approach. Results are condensed in two qualitative rules: Rule I_M—hyperconjugative interactions transferring charge into the coupling pathway yield a positive increase to the Fermi contact (FC), contribution to ²K_XY reduced spin–spin coupling constants (RSSCC), and Rule II_M—hyperconjugative interactions transferring charge from the coupling pathway yield a negative increase to the FC contribution to ²K_XY RSSCC. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.