Electron spin resonance spectroscopy sensitivity

ESR Spectroscopy. Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy is an important technique for investigating the role of radical intermediates in radiation chemistry. The technique has been used widely for many years in the study of radicals occurring in irradiated solid polymers (.6,7). However, by their very nature, such species are reactive and may only exist in low concentration. The identification of these species can also be a problem since in the majority of polymers the environment of the radicals leads to broad, unresolved ESR spectra, which makes detailed spectral analysis difficult. In recent years, many of these problems of sensitivity and resolution have been reduced by more sensitive and stable ESR spectrometers and by development of new methods of data handling and manipulation. 

The degradation of some fluoropolymers outdoors occurs very slowly and can be detected only by very sensitive analytical methods, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)40 or electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR).41... 

Electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR), also known as electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), is based on the property that an unpaired electron placed in a magnetic field shows a typical resonance energy absorption spectrum sensitive to its environment. Recently, this technique, which was primarily developed for biological studies of membrane properties, has been adapted for the study of adsorbed polymer/surfactant layers. The mobility of the ESR probe (stable free radical incorporated into the polymer or surfactant molecule) depends of orientation of the surfactant or polymer and the viscosity of the local environment around the probe. 

Electron spin resonance spectroscopy offers a unique technique to study the role of radical species as intermediates in both polymerization and polymer degradation processes. The technique has been developed significantly since its introduction to chemical applications in the 1950s [1], with major advances in the stability of the magnetic field, in the sensitivity to low radical concentrations— and hence the limit of detection and measurement—and in data collection and manipulation. ESR spectrometry enables both the identification of radicals and the measurement of their concentration. It is a non-destructive technique and spectra can be recorded both during polymerization, and, in suitable circumstances, during degradation of polymers [2]. 

Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy can be advantageously used to measure the radical concentrations of the nitroxide radicals (XV and XVI) produced, since these are much more stable then the R- radicals. Of greater importance, ESR can be used to determine the structure of R% since the ESR of the nitroxide radical is quite sensitive to the structure of R. (For this purpose, nitroso spin traps are more useful, since the R group in the nitroxide radical is nearer to the lone electron.) This can allow a determination of the structures of radicals first formed in initiator decomposition, the radicals that actually initiate polymerization (if they are not identical with the former) as well as the propagating radicals [Rizzardo and Solomon, 1979 Sato et al 1975],... 

The problem of bringing a large magnet into the field for ambient measurements has been overcome in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR, also called electron spin resonance, ESR) by Mihelcic, Helten, and coworkers (93-99). They combined EPR with a matrix isolation technique to allow the sampling and radical quantification to occur in separate steps. The matrix isolation is also required in this case because EPR is not sensitive enough to measure peroxy radicals directly in the atmosphere. EPR spectroscopy has also been used in laboratory studies of peroxy radical reactions (100, 101). 

Huttermann J, Ward JF, Myers LS Jr (1971) Electron spin resonance studies of free radicals in irradiated single crystals of 5-methylcytosine. Int J Radiat PhysChem 3 117-129 Huttermann J, Ohlmann J, Schaefer A, Gatzweiler W (1991) The polymorphism of a cytosine anion studied by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. Int J Radiat Biol 59 1297-1311 Hwang CT, Stumpf CL, Yu Y-Q, Kentamaa HI (1999) Intrinsic acidity and redox properties of the adenine radical cation. Int J Mass Spectrom 182/183 253-259 Ide H, Otsuki N, Nishimoto S, Kagiya T (1985) Photoreduction of thymine glycol sensitized by aromatic amines in aqueous solution. J Chem Soc Perkin Trans 2 1387-1392 Idris Ali KM, Scholes G (1980) Analysis of radiolysis products of aqueous uracil + N20 solutions. J Chem Soc Faraday Trans 176 449-456... 

Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy is of application to organic species containing unpaired electrons radicals, radical ions and triplet states, and is much more sensitive than NMR it is an extremely powerful tool in the field of radical chemistry (see Chapter 10). Highly unstable radicals can be generated in situ or, if necessary, trapped into solid matrices at very low temperatures. Examples of the application of this techniques include study of the formation of radical cations of methoxylated benzenes by reaction with different strong oxidants in aqueous solution [45], and the study of the photodissociation of N-trityl-anilines [46],... 

Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy is much more sensitive than NMR but one is, of course, strongly hampered by the requirement of unpaired electrons. The study of nitroxide-labelled compounds, both surfactants and solubilizates, has... 

Electron spin resonance (ESR) or electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has developed at an outstanding pace since its discovery in 1945 (Zavoiskii 1945), so that at present the technique is very well understood in its many aspects. In wood chemistry, ESR has become an essential tool for the study of the structure and dynamics of molecular systems containing one or more unpaired electrons, i.e., free radicals. ESR has found applications as a highly sensitive tool for the detection and identification of free radical species in lignin and lignin model compounds (Steelink 1966, Kringstad and Lin 1970). A recent literature review of free radicals in wood chemistry is available (Simkovic 1986). 

Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy is one of the primary tools in studying the electronic structure of polynuclear complexes (341). Whereas magnetic susceptibility studies are capable of detecting electronic interactions as small as a wavenumber (discussed earlier), the EPR spectrum of a polynuclear complex may be sensitive to intramolecular exchange couplings as small as 0.001 cm even at room temperature. Additionally, the °Mn nucleus has a nuclear spin... 

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