Conformation of ethane‐1,2‐diol from analysis of its NMR spectrum obtained using gradient‐enhanced inverse detection

The 1 H NMR spectrum of [ 13 C]ethane‐1,2‐diol was measured at natural abundance using the 1 H 13 C inverse‐detected HMQC method with magnetic field gradients. A limited solvent and temperature dependence study was undertaken and the vicinal 1 H 1 H coupling constants were related to those in model compounds. It is shown that the trans rotamer is significantly populated, in contradiction to some recent theoretical and experimental studies.