Photochemical studies on the tertiary butyl radical isolated in argon matrices

The t-Bu radical was isolated in an argon matrix and exposed to short wavelenght UV light. Two major phoroproducts were observed using IR spectroscopy: the first, isobutylene, was formed by cleavage of a βCH bond; the second was the i-Bu radical which could have been formed by photoisomerization, or recombination of a H atom with isobutylene.