Effect of solvent nature on the photoreduction kinetics of substituted benzoquinones

Effect of the solvent nature on the kinetics of photoreduction of substituted benzoquinones in the presence of hydrogen donors has been studied. It has been found that the effective photoreduction rate constant (k_H) for quinones decreases with an increase in solvent polarity. For the 3,6-di-tert-butylbenzoquinone–1,2-N,N-dimethylaniline pair, the dependence of ln k_H on the difference of the reciprocals of optical and static solvent permitivities (1/ε _∞–1/ε₀) is stepwise with a break point corresponding to CH₂Cl₂. A similar relationship lnk_H = f(1/ε _∞–1/ε₀) is observed for the p-chloranil–mesitylene pair. In the study of the photoreduction kinetics for a series of seven o-benzoquinones in the presence of p-derivatives of N,N-dimethylaniline in CH₂Cl₂, it has been found that the dependence of k_H on the free energy of electron transfer (ΔG_e) has a maximum for the 3,6-di-tert-butylquinone-1,2–N,N-dimethylaniline pair at ΔG_e = 0.11 eV.