Electron spin relaxation of some alkane cation radicals as an indicator of dynamics between the distorted structures

ESR saturation phenomenon was observed for various alkane cation radicals derived from cyclohexane, propane and norbornane in frozen halocarbon matrices at 4 K. In addition to spectral diffusion by spin-spin interaction between the radicals, which is a common mechanism of ESR relaxation in the solid state, isotropic hyperfine modulation by the dynamics between the equivalent distorted structures was found to be very important for those centers which show Jahn-Teller (JT) or pseudo-JT effects. The effect of annealing of the sample at 77 K is also discussed.