Control of a photoreaction by electron spin resonance (II): The effect of radical pair lifetime on the control efficiency

The magnetic-field and the microwave effects on the photoreactions of anthraquinone-2-sulfonate and anthraquinone-2-carboxylic acid with xanthene were observed in an SDS micellar solution. The reaction products were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. With increasing the magnetic-field strength from the residual value to 400 mT, the yield of dixanthenyl, which is an “escape product”, increased considerably. Upon irradiating the system with a microwave (9400 MHz, 1.0 kW), however, the yield decreased almost to the minimum value at around 334 mT, where the intermediate radical pair becomes resonant with the microwave field. Therefore, we can detect the ESR spectrum of the transient radical pair by the product yield (product-yield-detected ESR or PYESR). In the present study, we observed a clear reversed microwave effect at the center of the PYESR spectrum, whose cause was attributed to “spin locking” of the radical pair by an intense microwave field. The microwave effects for the two systems were, different from each other in several respects including the extent of this spin locking effect in the product yield. The PYESR spectra were calculated by using a quantum mechanical method to discuss the relation between the microwave effect and the radical pair dynamics, the latter of which was also observed in the present study by the “pulse-PYESR” method.