Redox Properties of Transient Radicals

REDOX PROPERTIES OF TRANSIENT RADICALS 2.6.1. Direct Electrochemical Approach... 

The very fact that chemical catalysis involves the formation of an adduct opens up possibilities of selectivity, particularly stereoselectivity, that are absent in redox catalysis. Several examples of homogeneous chemical catalysis are described in the following section, illustrating the improvements that can be achieved when passing from redox to chemical catalysis. It remains true that redox catalysis has several useful applications that have already been discussed, such as kinetic characterization of fast follow-up reactions (Section 2.3) and determination of the redox properties of transient radicals (Section 2.6.4). 

An almost complete description of both OH radical-mediated and one-electron oxidation reactions of the thymine moiety (3) of DNA and related model compounds is now possible on the basis of detailed studies of the final oxidation products and their radical precursors. Relevant information on the structure and redox properties of transient pyrimidine radicals is available from pulse radiolysis measurements that in most cases have involved the use of the redox titration technique. It may be noted that most of the rate constants implicating the formation and the fate of the latter radicals have been also assessed. This has been completed by the isolation and characterization of the main thymine and thymidine hydroperoxides that arise from the fate of the pyrimidine radicals in aerated aqueous solutions. Information is also available on the formation of thymine hydroperoxides as the result of initial addition of radiation-induced reductive species including H" atom and solvated electron. 

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