Quantum photoreaction, radical

The ion-pair complex formed by the interaction of hydroxobis(8-quinolyloxo) vanadium (V) [VOQ2OH] and /i-butyl amine is also effective in photoinitiation of polymerization of MMA in bulk and in solution [40]. The quantum yield of initiation and polymerization determined are equal to 0.166 and 35.0, respectively. Hydroxyl radical ( OH) is reported to be the initiating radical and the following photoreaction is suggested ... 

This chapter discusses environmental photoreactions chiefly in terms of two broad categories of reactions direct and indirect. A direct photoreaction occurs when a photon is absorbed by a compound leading to formation of excited or radical species, which can react in a variety of different ways to form stable products. In dilute solution, rate constants for these reactions are the products of the rate constants for light absorption and the reaction efficiencies (quantum yields). 

Different photoreactions can be initiated in structurally related complexes of a metal ion as a result of the intrinsic properties of the LMCT excited state and radical-ion pairs. The excited-state reactions of azido complexes of Co(III) are one example of this chemical diversity.106-109 Irradiation of Co///(NH3)5N2+ aqueous acidic solutions in the spectral region 214 nm < 2exc < 330 nm produces Coin(NH3)4(H20)N, 6 0.6, and Co(aq)2 +, molar ratio.93 The ammonia photoaquation has two sources that also account for the large quantum yield of the photoprocess. One source competes with the formation of Co(aq)2 + from radical-ion pairs. These pairs must be produced with a quantum yield 0.5. The second source is a process unrelated to the Co(aq)2 + production and it has a quantum yield excited state where a Co-NH3 bond has been considerably elongated and where the electronic relaxation of the excited state has been coupled with aquation. A second rationale for the large aquation quantum yield is that a reactive LF excited state is populated by the LMCT excited state. 

Despite high probabilities for triplet formation and for triplet reaction, many overall photoreactions proceed in low quantum efficiency. In the absence of competing chemical reactions, the factor most often responsible for low quantum yields is the revertibility 8> of primary triplet reactions. Metastable intermediates such as radicals, biradicals, and charge transfer complexes (either excited or ground state) are the usual photoproducts from excited triplet reactions. These intermediates generally can revert to ground state reactant, thus providing a chemical path for radiationless decay , as well as proceed to stable products. Hence, the factor Pp is necessary to describe the probability that the intermediate will form product. 

In view of the extensive delocalization of the unpaired electron, the radical ions of aromatic molecules are often relatively stable, the limitation to their lifetime being rather given by back electron transfer. They are therefore ideally suited for physical studies, just as it happens for excited states, where aromatic molecules are often chosen for photophysical experiments since they show little photochemistry. Thus, systematic studies on the rate of electron transfer have been carried out using aromatic molecules [4], and aromatic substrates are in use for enhancing the quantum yield of electron transfer photoreactions through secondary electron transfer (a typical example is biphenyl, BP, which by functioning as secondary donor slows down back electron transfer between the original radical ions and allows their chemistry to show up) [5]. 

Photolysis of [Rh(tfacac)3] (tfacac is the unsymmetrically substituted 1,1,1-trifluoromethyl-acac) reveals the existence of two photoinduced reaction paths the relative efficiency of the two paths is dramatically solvent dependent.1140 In cyclohexane, mer- cis isomerization is the only observed photoreaction, but if ethanol or 2-propanol is added to the solvent, the photoisomerization efficiency decreases, and photodecomposition occurs. The nature of the photodecomposition products is not specified, but the enhanced photoreactivity in the presence of tri(n-butyl)stannane, a hydrogen atom donor, and flash and continuous photolysis studies in mixed-solvent systems strongly implicate hydrogen atom abstraction from the solvent as a key step in the photodecomposition of wer-[Rh(tfacac)3] and suggests that the photo reactive states have considerable radical character .1140 Analysis of quantum efficiencies implies that at least two distinct photoproduced excited states must be involved. 

The photocyclodimerization of JV-vinylcarbazole, which was reported by Ledwith and Shirota, can be accounted for by this mechanism [71-73]. A chain process is involved in this photoreaction, and the quantum yield exceeds unity (the maximum quantum yield is 66). The hole transfer from the cyclobutane radical cation to a neutral JV-vinylcarbazole is a key reaction for the chain process. Similar photodimerizations of electron-rich alkenes such as aryl vinyl ethers [74-76], indenes [29, 77, 78], styrenes [79-80] and enamines [71] have been reported by several groups. The DCA-sensitized photodimerization of phenyl vinyl ether gives cis- and trans-1,2-diphenoxycyclobutanes. This photoreaction also involves a chain process although the chain length is short [75]. 

Free radical species that are capable of initiating vinyl polymerization reactions have been identified as Cu -co-ordinated amino-acid radicals, and these are produced in the primary photoreactions of the complex. An examination of the quantum yield and photodecomposition stoicheiometry of Cu (H2Aib)3 (H2Ajb= a-aminoisobutyric acid) as a function of irradiation wavelength and medium conditions has shown that 7r-copper -amidyl radicals are the primary photoproducts. The behaviour of other Cu -peptide complexes suggests that these photochemical parameters are dependent on the peptide chain-length and the number of a-carbon methyl substituents. ... 

Farid s group describes the results of an investigation of the quantitative aspects of electron transfer sensitised arene photoreactions in this article the fate of the radical ion pair generated by irradiation of an electron acceptor in the presence of an arene donor was probed by measurement of the quantum yield of separation of the ion pair. Combination of this with the rate constant for separation of the ion pair allowed the determination of the rate constant for back electron transfer... 

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