Spin trapping of fluoroalkyl radicals

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0022-1139(94)03118-5

The formation of fluoroalkyl radicals in liquid chlorofluorocarbons (CF2Cl-CFCl2, CFCl3, CFCl2-CH3, CHF2-CF2-CF2Cl, CF3-CFH-CF3 and CCl4) has been investigated by means of the spin trapping technique and ESR spectroscopy.It is shown that the primary fluoroalkyl radicals which were generated in these compounds by ionising radiation are preferably formed by bond cleavage at carbon atoms attached to one fluorine atom.Besides the liberation of chlorine atoms in chlorine-containing compounds, in CHF2-CF2-CF2Cl and CF3-CFH-CF3 fluorine atoms were also detected.By comparison of radicals formed from γ-irradiated CF2Cl-CFCl2 (CFC-113) and from CF2Cl-CFClI or CF2I-CFCl2 by zinc reduction, it was demonstrated that in CFC-113 both ^.CF2-CFCl2 and ^.CFCl-CF2Cl radicals are formed, whereas in iodine-containing homologues the formation of one species is favoured. - Keywords: Spin trapping; Fluoroalkyl radicals; ESR spectroscopy; γ-Irradiation; Zinc reduction; Phenyl-tert-butylnitrone