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Indirect proton hyperfine interactions in π‐electron radicals are first discussed in terms of a hypothetical CH fragment which holds one unpaired π electron and two σ‐CH bonding electrons. Molecular orbital theory and valence bond theory yield almost identical results for the unpaired electron density at the proton due to exchange coupling between the π electron and the σ electrons. The unrestricted Hartree‐Fock approximation leads to qualitatively similar results. The unpaired electron spin density at the proton tends to be antiparallel to the average spin of the π electron, and this leads to a negative proton hyperfine coupling constant.

The theory of indirect proton hyperfine interaction in the CH fragment is generalized to the case of polyatomic π‐electron radical systems; e.g., large planar aromatic radicals. In making this generalization there is introduced an unpaired π‐electron spin density operator, ρN, where N …