OH-Induced shift from carbon to oxygen acidity in the side-chain deprotonation of 2-, 3- and 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol radical cations in aqueous solution: results from pulse radiolysis and DFT calculations

DFT calculations have been carried out for 2-, 3- and 4-methoxybenzyl alcohol radical cations (1⁺, 3⁺ and 4⁺, respectively) and the α-methyl derivatives 2⁺ and 5⁺ using the UB3LYP/6-31G(d) method. The theoretical results have been compared with the experimental rate constants for deprotonation of 1⁺-5⁺ under acidic and basic conditions. In acidic solution, the decay of 1⁺-5⁺ proceeds by cleavage of the C-H bond, while in the presence of ⁻OH all the radical cations undergo deprotonation from the α-OH group. This pH-dependent change in mechanism has been interpreted qualitatively in terms of simple frontier molecular orbital theory. The ⁻OH induced α-O-H deprotonation is consistent with a charge controlled reaction, whereas the C-H deprotonation, observed when the base is H₂O, appears to be affected by frontier orbital interactions.     

Chromogenic radical based optical sensor membrane for screening of antioxidant activity

Solid-state optical sensor membranes based on immobilised chromogenic radicals for the assessment of antioxidant activity have been studied. Two stable lipophilic chromogenic radicals, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical) and galvinoxyl radical, GV, (2,6-di-tert-butyl-α-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-oxo-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-ylidene)-p-tolyloxy radical), were immobilised in plasticised PVC films and screened for suitability as indicators of antioxidative activity. The spectrophotometric characterisation of the polymer films containing immobilised free radicals was performed, and the response of the immobilised free radicals toward standard antioxidants was studied. It has been demonstrated that the immobilised radicals retain their reactivity towards antioxidants and the results suggest that the reactivity of immobilised radicals is comparable to standard solution-based DPPH assays. Polymer films containing immobilised DPPH radical respond to standard antioxidants in aqueous solutions by changing colour irreversibly from purple (absorption maximum at 520 nm) to yellow. The initial slopes of the response curves to the phenolic antioxidant gallic acid, obtained in the 1-50 mM concentration range, gave a linear calibration plot in a 1 min exposure cuvette test. The polymer films were used to screen antioxidative activity of beverage and food samples known to contain antioxidants, such as black and green tea, coffee, red wine, fruit juice, olive oil and sunflower oil. It has been demonstrated that a rapid and simple qualitative screening test of untreated samples is possible using a test strip based on immobilised DPPH radical.     

Twisted molecular geometry and localized electronic structure of the triplet excited gem-diphenyltrimethylenemethane biradical: substituent effects on thermoluminescence and related theoretical calculations

Substituent effects on the energies of electronic transitions (ETs) between the triplet excited and ground states of gem-diphenyltrimethylenemethane biradicals (³2a) were explored by using thermoluminescence (TL) spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) including time-dependent (TD) DFT. Linear free energy (Hammett) analyses of TL energies of a variety of para-substituted aryl derivatives of ³2* gave reasonable correlations with the substituent constant, σ. The slope of Hammett plots of the data are nearly identical to one obtained from a similar analysis of the photoluminescence (PL) energies of the structurally-related 1,1-diarylethyl radicals (3*). The results suggest that TL of ³2* and PL of 3* derive from a common diarylmethyl radical fluorophore. This interpretation is also supported by the DFT and TDDFT calculated electronic structures and ET energies of ³2 and 3. Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses of the charge recombination (CR) process between 2⁺ and 1⁻, which generates ³2*, revealed that substituents not only alter the TL energies but also the TL intensities of ³2*. The observations made in this effort demonstrate that ³2* as well as ³2 and 2⁺ have greatly twisted molecular geometries and highly localized electronic structures.     

Determination of photoformation rates and scavenging rate constants of hydroxyl radicals in natural waters using an automatic light irradiation and injection system

Photoformation rates and scavenging rate constants of hydroxyl radicals (OH) in natural water samples were determined by an automatic determination system. After addition of benzene as a chemical probe to a water sample in a reaction cell, light irradiation and injection of irradiated water samples into an HPLC as a function of time were performed automatically. Phenol produced by the reaction between OH and the benzene added to the water sample was determined to quantify the OH formation rate. The rate constants of OH formation from the photolysis of nitrate ions, nitrite ions and hydrogen peroxide were comparable with those obtained in previous studies. The percent of expected OH photoformation rate from added nitrate ion were high in drinking water (97.4%) and river water (99.3%). On the other hand, the low percent (65.0%) was observed in seawater due to the reaction of OH with the high concentrations of chloride and bromide ions. For the automatic system, the coefficient of variance for the determination of the OH formation rate was less than 5.0%, which is smaller than that in the previous report. When the complete time sequence of analytical cycle was 40 min for one sample, the detection limit of the photoformation rate and the sample throughput were 8 × 10⁻¹³ M s⁻¹ and 20 samples per day, respectively. The automatic system successfully determined the photoformation rates and scavenging rate constants of OH in commercial drinking water and the major source and sink of OH were identified as nitrate and bicarbonate ions, respectively.     

The role of oxygen acidity on the side-chain fragmentation of ring methoxylated benzocycloalkenol radical cations

The reactivity of 2,2-dimethyl-5-methoxyindan-1-ol (1) and 2,2-dimethyl-6-methoxytetral-1-ol (2) radical cations has been studied both in acidic and basic solution. At pH≤4 both 1⁺ and 2⁺ undergo C_αH deprotonation as the exclusive reaction with k=4.6×10⁴ and 3.2×10⁴ s⁻¹, respectively. In basic solution 1⁺ and 2⁺ behave as oxygen acids undergoing ⁻OH-induced αOH deprotonation in a diffusion controlled process (k_−OH≈10¹⁰ M⁻¹ s⁻¹). An intermediate alkoxyl radical is formed which undergoes a 1,2-hydrogen atom shift in competition with CC β-scission (with 1⁺) or as the exclusive pathway (with 2⁺). A behavior which is interpreted in terms of the greater ease of ring-opening of a five membered ring as compared to a six-membered one.     

DFT study on the unsaturated germylenoid H2CGeNaF

The unsaturated germylenoid H₂CGeNaF was studied by using the DFT B3LYP method in conjunction with the 6-311+G(d, p) basis set. Geometry optimization calculations indicate that H₂CGeNaF has three equilibrium configurations, in which the p-complex is the lowest in energy and is the most stable structure. Two transition states for isomerization reactions of H₂CGeNaF are located and the energy barriers are calculated. For the most stable one, vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities have been predicted.     

Coupling and fast decarboxylation of aryloxyl radicals of 4-hydroxycinnamic acids with formation of stable p-quinomethanes

The reaction at room temperature of 3,5-di-tert-butyl- and 3,5-di-methoxy-4-hydroxycinnamic acids 1 and 2 with the dpph radical in acetone or other non-hydroxylic polar solvents yields interesting dimeric p-quinomethanes 10-16 characterized by a broad and strong absorption in the visible region. Although the yields appear to be low to moderate (10-40%), this simple synthesis affords quinones not otherwise obtainable, which contain an unsaturated γ-lactone ring (14-16). The structures have been elucidated by interpretation of ESI-MS, FT-IR and NMR spectral data. In particular, FT-IR spectra in a KBr matrix demonstrate the quinone nature of these compounds because of the presence of strong absorption bands at 1604-1640 cm⁻¹ and allows excluding the presence of carboxylic acid groups in the molecules. Kinetic evidence and molecular structures suggest that the formation of these p-quinomethanes is best explained through an 8-8 C-C coupling of the aryloxyl radicals derived from 1 and 2 and a subsequent fast mono- or di-decarboxylation of the initial dimer by an S_E1-type mechanism. Further oxidation of the phenolic intermediates by dpph yields the final quinones.     

Structures and EPR spectra of binary sulfur-nitrogen radicals from DFT calculations

The scattered electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic data for binary sulfur-nitrogen (S,N) radicals have been compiled and critically assessed.Many of these are inorganic rings or cages.For each species, possible equilibrium structures in the gas phase and the EPR hyperfine coupling (hfc) constants have been calculated with DFT using the B3LYP functional and basis sets of triple-ζ (or better) quality.Good agreement is obtained between calculated and measured values for the well characterized [S₃N₂]⁺, a planar π-radical for which the s-component of the orbitals is likely to be reasonably independent of minor geometrical changes between gas-phase and condensed-phase states.The cage compounds [S₄N₄]⁻ and [S₄N₅]⁻², for which reliable experimental EPR spectra have been reported, show larger variation between calculated and measured hfc, as a consequence of the dependence of the s orbital content of the molecular orbitals on small structural changes.The very large disagreements between the DFT calculated and experimentally claimed hfc constants for [NS], [SNS] and [S₄N₄]⁻³ in condensed phases lead us to question their assignment.Among binary S,N radicals, ³³S hfc data has only been reported for [S₃N₂]⁺ (through isotopic enrichment).These values were essential for the correct identification of the EPR spectra of this important radical, which previously was misassigned to other species.Our results suggest that ³³S data will be equally important for the correct identification of the EPR spectra of other binary S,N species, many of which are cyclic systems, e.g.[S₃N₃], [S₄N₃] and[S₄N₅].     

Light-emitting persistent radicals for efficient sensor devices of solvent polarity

Radical adduct 1 and the novel [4-(N-indolyl)-2,6-dichlorophenyl] bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)methyl radical (2) exhibit intense fluorescence emission in cyclohexane in the red wavelength region. The intensity and the wavelength of the emission band are drastically dependent on the polarity of the solvent. Besides, radical adduct 2 has been fully characterized by differential scanning calorimeter, showing a high thermal stability and a clear glass nature to form excellent films.     

Spectroscopic and DFT evidence for a nonclassical radical cation derived from 7-benzhydrylidenenorbornene

Nanosecond time-resolved UV/vis absorption spectroscopy on laser flash photolysis was conducted for photoinduced electron-transfer reactions of 7-benzhydrylidenenorbornene (1) and 7-benzhydrylidenenorbornane (5). The differences in the observed absorption bands and the structures of 1⁺ and 5⁺ were evaluated successfully using calculations based on (time dependent) density functional theory, confirming the nonclassical nature of 1⁺.