Abstract
WE have previously1 demonstrated the existence of a dehydrogenating species in de-aerated neutral aqueous solutions of aliphatic alcohols, when these are irradiated with γ-rays. This particular species, produced in a yield of G= 0.5–0.6 (molecules/100 eV), was assumed to be a hydrogen atom, possibly formed from excited water molecules according to: H2O*→H + OH. A similar conclusion has also been arrived at by Rabani and Stein2,3, using 200-kV X-rays. The identity of the dehydrogenating species as a simple hydrogen atom appears to be supported by kinetic evidence2,3 as well as by its reaction with OH− ions4,5. Other authors have suggested that one may be dealing with a radical pair (H + OH) (ref. 6) or an excited water molecule reacting as such6,7. For this, and other, reasons we shall represent this dehydrogenating species as Hα. The major proportion of the reducing species consists of electrons, also described as negative polarons8, and represented here as (H2O)−.
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References
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SCHOLES, G., SIMIC, M. Nature and Reactions of the Reducing Species in Aqueous Solutions irradiated with γ-rays in the Presence of Oxygen. Nature 199, 276–277 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/199276b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/199276b0
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