Uranyl-Sensitized Photochemical Oxidation of Naphthalene by Molecular Oxygen. Role of Electron Transfer
Naphthalene quenches the excited state *UO2(2+) in two parallel pathways: oxidation to naphthalene radical cation, C10H8(.+) (Φ = 0.3), and exciplex formation.The overall rate constant in aqueous acetonitrile containing 0.1 M H3PO4 has a value kq = 2.20E9 M-1 s-1.In the presence of O2, a portion of c10H8(.+) is converted to 2-formylcinnamaldehyde and several other products, the rest reacting with UO2(1+) by back electron transfer.