Abstract
THE preparation of highly reactive free radicals and atoms in non-equilibrium concentrations high enough for their direct observation by physical methods has hitherto depended on the use of special rapid techniques such as that of flash photolysis. Here we describe a general method for the preparation of these species under conditions which permit their observation at high concentrations for an indefinitely long period of time. The method involves the photolytic dissociation of a substance dissolved in a transparent rigid solvent at very low temperatures. The only related work which we have been able to find is that of Lewis and Lipkin, who showed that certain rather stable radicals, such as triphenyl methyl, could be detected after photolysis of the parent saturated molecule1.
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References
Lewis, G. N., and Lipkin, D., J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 64, 2801 (1942).
Porter, G., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 200, 284 (1950).
Porter, G., Dis. Farad. Soc., 9, 60 (1950).
Lipscomb, F. J., Norrish, R. G. W., and Porter, G., Nature (in the press).
Porter, G., and Wright, F. J. (in course of publication).
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NORMAN, I., PORTER, G. Trapped Atoms and Radicals in a Glass ‘Cage’. Nature 174, 508–509 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/174508a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/174508a0
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