skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Photochemistry of dipenylketyl radicals: spectroscopy, kinetics, and mechanisms

Journal Article · · J. Am. Chem. Soc.; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00210a035· OSTI ID:5413357

The photochemistry of the diphenylketyl radical has been examined in nonpolar solutions. Transient studies using two-laser techniques yield an excited-state lifetime of 3.9 ns in toluene at room temperature, while for diphenylketyl-O-d the lifetime is 8.7 ns. Dye laser irradiation (515 nm) in the ketyl's visible absorption band leads to efficient photobleaching with Phi/sub bleach/ = 0.27 +/- 0.06 for the parent radical and 0.39 and 0.26 for the 4-methyl and 4-chloro derivatives, respectively. The photobleaching reaction involves the cleavage of the O-H ketyl bond to yield benzophenone and hydrogen atoms; in cyclohexane the latter abstract hydrogen from the solvent to produce molecular hydrogen which was characterized by Raman spectroscopy. In accordance with this mechanism, two-laser experiments produce lower yields of photoreduction products than the one-laser experiments in which the ketyls are not photobleached. When the ketyl radicals are generated by reaction of tert-butoxy radicals with benzhydrol, dye laser irradiation leads to a large increase in the yield of benzophenone (now a product), although the mechanism here is somewhat more complex due to the quenching of excited ketyl radicals by di-tert-butyl peroxide (k/sub q/ = 1.9 x 10/sup 9/ M/sup -1/ s/sup -1/). Detailed studies of the fluorescence, isotope effects, temperature effects, and products are also included.

Research Organization:
National Research Council or Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
OSTI ID:
5413357
Journal Information:
J. Am. Chem. Soc.; (United States), Vol. 110:2
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English