Direct determination of proton‐exchange kinetics by 320‐MHz tritium NMR spectroscopy

The first application of tritium NMR spectroscopy to the direct observation of proton‐exchange kinetics is described; this technique allows the study of milligram amounts of substrates and for substrates with multiple exchangeable positions. The examples include benzene and the ring and methyl positions of p‐xylene reacting with cesium cyclohexylamide in cyclohexylamine, and the enolate positions of cyclohexanone and methyl 7,12‐dihydroxy‐3‐ketocholan‐24‐oate reacting with heptafluorobutyric acid in dioxane.