CIDEP spin probing of the nanopores in cotton

Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) experiments are reported on an α-hydroxy acetophenone in waterg-glycerol and ethanol-ethanediol mixtures over a viscosity range of 1–32 cP. The magnitude and viscosity dependence of the radical pair mechanism polarization is in good agreement with theory. The triplet mechanism polarization is found to increase with decreasing solvent polarity and this is ascribed to an increase in the α-cleavage rate constant. The liquid spectra are used to interpret TREPR spectra of the acetophenone in dry and wet cotton. In dry cotton anti-phase structure is seen and is due to some of the radical pairs being trapped in cages. The triplet and radical pair mechanism polarization shows that the acetophenone adsorbs to the apolar crystallite surface and releases radicals into the polar amorphous regions where they experience a microviscosity of approximately 30 cP. In wet cotton there are no cages and the viscosity is greater than in ethanol alone.