Electron spin resonance studies Subject

An electron spin resonance study (4-300 K) of [Cu(l-Me-ttaH)6]-[BF4]2 reveals that the two crystallographically inequivalent Cu(II) sites are subject to different Jahn-Teller effects arising from differences in the symmetries of the two sites (220a). 

There is obviously scope for further studies in this field and it would be worthwhile investigating these reactions in the absence of light and oxygen and subjecting all reactions to electron spin resonance studies. 

The chapter Electron Spin Resonance in Catalysis by Lunsford was prompted by the extensive activity in this field since the publication of an article on a similar subject in Volume 12 of this serial publication. This chapter is limited to paramagnetic species that are reasonably well defined by means of their spectra. It contains applications of ESR technique to the study of adsorbed atoms and molecules, and also to the evaluation of surface effects. The application of ESR to the determination of the state of transition metal ions in catalytic reactions is also discussed. 

The title Spectroscopy in Catalysis is attractively compact but not quite precise. The book also introduces microscopy, diffraction and temperature programmed reaction methods, as these are important tools in the characterization of catalysts. As to applications, I have limited myself to supported metals, oxides, sulfides and metal single crystals. Zeolites, as well as techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and electron spin resonance have been left out, mainly because the author has little personal experience with these subjects. Catalysis in the year 2000 would not be what it is without surface science. Hence, techniques that are applicable to study the surfaces of single crystals or metal foils used to model catalytic surfaces, have been included. 

Tt is well known that the presence of precipitated polymer can influence the course of polymerization. In bulk acrylonitrile polymerization the effects are most dramatic and have been the subject of many studies. The literature on this subject has been reviewed by Bamford et al. (4) by Thomas (29), and by Peebles (23). Under conditions where the system becomes heterogeneous owing to precipitation of small particles of polymer, a protracted acceleration period is observed at the start of polymerization, and the final rate is found to depend on the 0.8 power of the concentration of free radical initiator. Unusual post-polymerization effects are observed in photoinitiated polymerization of acrylonitrile, owing to the presence of trapped radicals which can be detected by electron spin resonance. None of the detailed mechanisms proposed to... 

Secondly there are direct techniques, notably electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR), in which the free radicals produced by the fracture of covalent bonds are directly observed, both in respect of their chemical nature and their number. Much of this review is orncemed with the results of ESR studies and this technique is therefore treated at some length below. One little used technique for the direct assessment of free radicals produced by n chanical means is that of Pazonyi et al and Salloum and Eckert They dropped various polymers in an ethanolic solution of diphenyl picryl hydrazyl, a chemical indicator, and determined the free radical concentration in the cut surfaces by colorimetrie measurements of the colour change. This method is subject to soixm uncertainty on account of possible side reactions. 

Metal- and proton-exchanged zeolites have been recently attracted much attention because of their selective catalytic activity to efficiently reduce nitrogen monoxide (NO) by hydrocarbon in an 02-rich atmosphere [1]. The formation of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from NO and O2 has been suggested as an important step in the selective reduction [2, 3] NO2 is one of rare stable paramagnetic gaseous molecules and has been subjected to electron spin resonance (ESR) studies [4-7]. The ESR parameters and their relation/to the electronic structure have been well established [4] and NO2 can be used as a "spin probe" for the study of molecular dynamics at the gas-solid interface by ESR. 

One of the first applications of electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy to catalysis was in a study of the chromia-alumina system, and during the last five years or so a number of publications have appeared dealing with this subject. The ESR spectra of supported chromia catalysts have been interpreted in terms of various chromium ion configurations or phases, each of which wiU be discussed below. It will be seen that these data substantiate many of the conclusions drawn from the magnetic susceptibility data described above, and, in addition, they provide a deeper insight into the molecular structure of chromia-alumina catalysts than can be obtained from static susceptibility measurements alone. This body of research serves as a very good illustration of the potential usefulness of ESR spectroscopy to the catalytic chemist, particularly when one considers that all of the data to be discussed below were obtained on poorly crystallized, high surface area powders, typical of practical catalysts. 

It is not necessary to deal with these techniques in detail here, since there are several books and monographs on the subject. The fundamental theory and practice of electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical methods can be found in [1,2] and also in [3-5], where investigations of polymeric surface layers are emphasized. Excellent monographs on EQCM [6-9] and PBD [10] are also recommended for further studies. Infrared, Mdssbauer spectroscopy, ellipsometry, etc., are described in [I I], while electron spin resonance is discussed in [12], radiotracer in [13], scanning tunneling microscopy in [14], and scanning electrochemical microscopy in [15]. The fundamentals of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy are treated in [1,2,16] however, the different models elaborated for electrochemically active films and membranes can be found in various papers (see later), while the most important methods for analyzing impedance spectra, as reported before 1994, are well summarized in [3]. Nevertheless, the essential elements of these techniques are briefly discussed here, in order to help the reader to understand the experimental material presented in this book. 

Perhaps the most significant breakthrough in practical phosphazene chemistry was the abiUty to polymerize hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene to obtain scAuble hnear poly(dichlorophosphazene) in a somewhat reproducible manner moreover, the polymer could be stabilized by immediate reaction with organic nucleophiles. H. Allcock first reported on the subject of the ROP of hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene and octachlorocyclotetraphosphazene in 1964 [33], when he and Best described the synthesis and studied the mechanism using electrochemical methods and electron spin resonance (ESR). 

The development of the effective Hamiltonian has been due to many authors. In condensed phase electron spin magnetic resonance the so-called spin Hamiltonian [20,21] is an example of an effective Hamiltonian, as is the nuclear spin Hamiltonian [22] used in liquid phase nuclear magnetic resonance. In gas phase studies, the first investigation of a free radical by microwave spectroscopy [23] introduced the ideas of the effective Hamiltonian, as also did the first microwave magnetic resonance study [24], Miller [25] was one of the first to develop the more formal aspects of the subject, particularly so far as gas phase studies are concerned, and Carrington, Levy and Miller [26] have reviewed the theory of microwave magnetic resonance, and the use of the effective Hamiltonian. 

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