Application of 15N nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to the determination of the stability of aryl nitrogen mustards.

An excellent correlation has been shown to exist between the 15N NMR chemical shifts of a series of aryl nitrogen mustards and the Hammett constant, sigma, which is much improved by the use of sigma-. These chemical shifts also correlate well with the hydrolysis rates of the compounds in 50% aqueous acetone at 66 degrees C and their alkylation of 4-(4'-nitrobenzyl)pyridine under similar conditions. Thus 15N NMR is a straightforward and material-conserving method for estimating the relative stabilities of aryl nitrogen mustards.