Structural study of (±) ethyl 3-acyloxy-1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octane-3-carboxylates by 1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and DFT calculations

1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy and DFT/B3LYP calculations were applied to investigate the conformational preferences of the ethoxycarbonyl and acyloxy groups of some α-acyloxyesters derived from (±) ethyl 3-hydroxy-1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octane-3-carboxylate. The crystal structure of (±) ethyl 3-diphenylacetoxy-1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octane-3-carboxylate was determined by X-ray diffraction. To correlate between calculated conformations and the structure in solution, NMR chemical shifts calculations were also performed using the GIAO approach. It has been found that the lowest energetic conformer computed gives the greatest correspondance with experimental solution and solid state data.