Equilibrium deuterium isotope effect of surprising magnitude

Seemingly large deuterium isotope effects are reported for the preference of deuterium for the α-chloro site to the bridgehead or to the vinyl site in samples of anti-7-chlorobicyclo[4.3.2]undecatetraene-d1. Studies of molecular models did not provide a basis for these large equilibrium deuterium isotope effects. The possibility is proposed that these isotope effects only appear to be large for want of comparison with isotope effects measured for molecules that might provide even greater contrasts in local force fields