The 13C nmr spectra of a series of 50 methyl substituted norbornanols have been determined to gain further insight into the nature of stereochemical effects on the shieldings of carbons having closely neighboring substituents. The relatively rigid norbornyl skeleton permits examination of a variety of orientations of substituents separated by three and four bonds, the γ and δ interactions, respectively. While methyl carbons close to γ substituents exhibit upfield shifts, as is well established, methyl carbons close to δ substituents are significantly deshielded. Even more striking shifts are found for the carbons bearing these closely lying groups. The penultimate carbons in a fragment having a δ interaction between terminal groups show deviations of up to +11 ppm from the shieldings predicted by simple additivity. For fragments having a corresponding γ interaction, the penultimate carbons absorb as much as −10 ppm from the values expected by additivity. These deviations have considerable potential for stereochemical assignments and offer a challenge for theoretical interpretation.Some norbornenols and the acetates of several of the norbornanols were also included in this series and the latter shieldings are compared briefly with those observed for the parent alcohols.
