Free Radicals Produced by γ Irradiation of Nitroalkanes in Frozen Glassy Acidic Solutions

The scavenging of paramagnetic species by nitroalkanes formed during the γ irradiation of aqueous 6.4 molar sulfuric acid glasses has been studied by using ESR. Nitroalkanes give rise to RNO2H radiclas, the nitrogen hyperfine coupling of which has the values A⁄⁄N=48 G and A⊥N=18 G with g⁄⁄=2.0035 and g⊥=2.0075. The RNO2H yields for 0.5 molar solutions of nitromethane and 2-nitro-2-methyl-propanol are G\simeq4 and G\simeq3, respectively. G(SO4−+OH.) is roughly idenpendent of the nitroalkane concentration. These results are interpreted as the scavenging of hydrogen atoms due to the energetic recombination of non-hydrated primary species (H2O+, OH., e−) according to an assumption of Hamill.