Benzene radiolysis

Kevan and colleagues69 studied the products of the radiolysis of solid diaryl sulfones at room temperature, such as p,p -ditolyl, diphenyl sulfone and dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide. The products found for the first two were S02 and the diaryl hydrocarbon. For p,p -ditolyl sulfone the S02 yield is linear with dose upto about 13 Mrad, above which it falls off considerably from linearity. The initial yields give G(S02) = 0.05, which is equal within experimental error to the yield of p,p -bitolyl. The only another organic product observed had a smaller yield by a factor of 7, and could not be identified. The authors pointed out that no polymeric product was found in contrast to what is known on benzene radiolysis. The mass balance suggests that a simple decomposition as shown by equation 50 is the net consequence of radiolysis. 

The attack on the aromatic nucleus by hydroxyl radicals is probably analogous to that by phenyl and methyl radicals, Eq. (34a,b). Evidence that the first step is the addition of hydroxyl radical to benzene, rather than abstraction of a hydrogen atom, has recently been adduced from a study of the radiolysis of water-benzene mixtures. The familiar addition complex may undergo two reactions to form the phenolic and dimeric products respectively, Eq. (34a,b). Alternative mechanisms for the formation of the dimer have been formulated, but in view of the lack of experimental evidence for any of the mechanisms further discussion of this problem is not justified. 

The branching of the adduct decomposition was studied by measuring the pKa of the mixtures. Thus for pulse radiolysis of N20-saturated methyl phenyl sulfoxide the results yield a p/Ca obs value of 1.50 while the values for methane sulfinic and benzene sulfinic acids are 2.28 and 1.29, respectively. The fraction of each branch can be calculated from the equation,... 

FIGURE 14.10 Transient absorption spectra observed following pulse radiolysis of 1 x 10-4 M ASTA with 1 x 10-5 M LYC in argon flushed benzene. 

It is now clearly demonstrated through the use of free radical traps that all organic liquids will undergo cavitation and generate bond homolysis, if the ambient temperature is sufficiently low (i.e., in order to reduce the solvent system s vapor pressure) (89,90,161,162). The sonolysis of alkanes is quite similar to very high temperature pyrolysis, yielding the products expected (H2, CH4, 1-alkenes, and acetylene) from the well-understood Rice radical chain mechanism (89). Other recent reports compare the sonolysis and pyrolysis of biacetyl (which gives primarily acetone) (163) and the sonolysis and radiolysis of menthone (164). Nonaqueous chemistry can be complex, however, as in the tarry polymerization of several substituted benzenes (165). 

According to Ludwig (1968), there is a some similarity between UV- and high-energy-induced luminescence in liquids. In many cases (e.g., p-ter-phenyl in benzene), the luminescence decay times are similar and the quenching kinetics is also about the same. However, when a mM solution of p-terphenyl in cyclohexane was irradiated with a 1-ns pulse of 30-KeV X-rays, a long tail in the luminescence decay curve was obtained this tail is absent in the UV case. This has been explained in terms of excited states produced by ion neutralization, which make a certain contribution in the radiolysis case but not in the UV case (cf. Sect. 4.3). Note that the decay times obtained from the initial part of the decay are the same in the UV- and radiation-induced cases. Table 4.3 presents a brief list of luminescence lifetimes and quantum yields. 

Photoexcitation of an acetylene molecule results in either dimerization or dissociation of the molecule (C2 + H2 or C2H + H). In the mass spectrometer, the major positive ions are C2H2+ (75%) and C2H+ (15%). However, at STP no gaseous products are seen under radiolysis. There are only two major products, benzene and a polymer, cuprene with an empirical formula QJH. The detailed mechanisms are still debatable. However, the following remarks may be made ... 

Ionizing radiations (a, ft and y) react unselectively with all molecules and hence in the case of solutions they react mainly with the solvent. The changes induced in the solute due to radiolysis are consequences of the reactions of the solute with the intermediates formed by the radiolysis of the solvent. Radiolysis of water leads to formation of stable molecules H2 and H2O2, which mostly do not take part in further reactions, and to very reactive radicals the hydrated electron eaq, hydrogen atom H" and the hydroxyl radical OH" (equation 2). The first two radicals are reductants while the third one is an oxidant. However there are some reactions in which H atom reacts similarly to OH radical rather than to eaq, as e.g. abstraction of an hydrogen atom from alcohols, addition to a benzene ring or to an olefinic double bond, etc. 

The 0.23 pmolJ-1 of reaction 15 increases the yield of radical 5 from 0.29 in pulse radiolysis to 0.52 pmolJ-1 in y-radiolysis. Summing up all the yields of radical 5 gives 2 x (0.085 + 0.056 + 0.067 + 0.021) + 0.02 = 0.48. In this calculation we assume that benzene is formed solely from 5 + 5 disproportionation and none from reaction 16. In order to obtain closer agreement between the pulse and continuous radiolysis yields, less than 0.23 pmolJ-1 should be formed in reaction 15. 

Using basic pH leads to higher plateau rate constants, indicating that the ratedetermining step is reaction 18. Reaction 17 must be at least as fast as the rate of 02 addition in the highest 02 concentration used, kn 8 x 105 s 1, which is the limit of the instrument measurement. The G of benzene in pulse radiolysis was found to be equal to that of the nitroform anion (1.6 x 10-7 molJ-1) as can be expected from reactions 17-19. Since the yield of the cyclohexadienylperoxyl radical is 2.9 x 10-7 mol. 1 1 it means that only a fraction (ca 60%) of the cyclohexadienylperoxyl radicals eliminates HO2. The H02 elimination occurs by H-transfer of the allylic hydrogen to the oxygen... 

This conclusion is supported by results of detailed study on the decay of hydroxyhexa-dienylperoxyl radicals, formed by addition of OH to benzene, followed by addition of dioxygen molecule. It was found that in the high dose rate of pulse radiolysis, hydro-quinone is the major product whereas catechol was not observed, indicating that only the 1,3-isomer loses HO2" and hence does not lead to dihydroxybenzene. The observation that the yield of 02 is 60% of the yield of the cyclohexadienyl radicals indicates that when dioxygen molecules react with the cyclohexadienyl radical, the radical is 60% trapped in the mesomeric form of 5b, whereas the results from the final products of dimerization in /-radiolysis show that 60% react in the form 5a. 

Pulse radiolysis is used also for preparation of excited states of dienes and polyenes. This is done by irradiation of the diene/polyene in toluene solution. The radiolysis of toluene yield high concentration of molecules in the triplet excited state of the solute. Wilbrandt and coworkers61 pulse-radiolysed 1 mM solution of al I -lrans-1,3,5-heptatriene in toluene solution and observed the absorption spectra of the triplet state of the heptatriene with a maximum at 315 nm. The same group62 produced and measured the absorption spectra of several isomeric retinals in their lowest excited triplet state by pulse irradiation of their dilute solution in Ar-saturated benzene containing 10 2 M naphthalene. Nakabayashi and coworkers63 prepared the lowest triplet states of 1,3-cyclohexadiene,... 

An additional contributing factor to the mechanism of the present grafting reaction is the role of radiolytically produced hydrogen atoms. In the radiolysis of binary mixtures of aromatic and aliphatic compounds such as styrene-methanol, the concentration of aromatic strongly influences the G(H2) obtained from the methanol. In the most extensively studied binary mixtures of benzene-methanol (11) and pyridine-methanol (10), it is found that the yield of H atoms is important in determining product yields and types. Small additions (5%) of benzene and pyridine significantly reduce G(H2) from the methanol by scavenging H atoms. Above 5% additive, G(H2) is reduced further, but at a slower rate. These data for benzene-methanol and pyridine-methanol can be extrapolated... 

Further work (10) with acid effects in the radiolysis of binary mixtures such as benzene-methanol and pyridine-methanol indicates that the acid phenomenon is more complicated than the simple H atom model originally developed ( ). These more recent experiments (10) show that whilst increased hydrogen atom yields in the presence of acid enhance the overall grafting yield, other mechanisms also contribute to this acid effect. Thus the acid stability of intermediate radicals (I-III) and also analogous species involving the trunk polymer are important. With radicals (I-III), at low styrene concentrations in methanol, these intermediates (MR-) will predominantly react with other available... 

A review considering the generation and characterization of radical ions, their reactions, formation of species with three-electron bonds, and radical cations of strained systems has been published." The redox and acidity properties of a number of substituted benzene radical cations were smdied by pulse radiolysis. ... 

The solute benzene radical cation was formed on pulse radiolysis of an acidic aqueous solution of benzene. The transient optical absorption bands (A-max = 310, 350-500 nm) were assigned to the solute benzene radical cation which is formed on acid-catalysed dehydration of the OH adduct. The radical cation is able to undergo an electron-transfer reaction with Br and was found to be a strong electron oxidant. Pulse radiolysis has been used to study the complex reaction that follows electron addition to hydroxybenzophenones (HOBPs). The various radical species involved have been characterized spectrally and their p/fa values evaluated. The differences... 

Aromatic radical-cations are generated by pulse-radiolysis of benzene derivatives in aqueous solution. Radiolysis generates solvated electrons, protons and hydroxyl radicals. The electrons are converted by reaction with peroxydisulpbate ion to form sulphate radical-anion, which is an oxidising species, and sulphate. In another proceedure, electrons and protons react with dissolved nitrous oxide to form hydroxyl radicals and water, Hydroxyl radicals are then made to react with either thallium(i) or silver(i) to generate thallium(ii) or silver(ll) which are powerfully... 

Table 6.2. Long wavelength uv absorption bands of benzene radical-cations in water, determined by pulse-radiolysis techniques.

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