The rα structure of benzonitrile, determined by NMR of the oriented molecule

The indirect and direct proton–proton, proton–carbon and proton–nitrogen coupling constants of benzonitrile have been measured from proton spectra with natural abundance satellites, and also from proton and 15N spectra of the molecule enriched in 13C or 15N at the cyano group, both in isotropic as well as in oriented solvents. The rα structure of the entire molecule has subsequently been determined.