A radiolabelling study of radicals derived from benzene, toluene and benzaldehyde sorbed in model environmental carbon

Radiolabelled free radicals were formed by the addition of muonium--a radioactive hydrogen atom with a positive muon as its nucleus--to benzene, toluene and benzaldehyde, as sorbed in porous carbon. The activation parameters associated with their reorientational motion were measured using longitudinal-field muon spin relaxation (LF-MuSRx). Two distinct sorbed fractions were detected in each sample, characterised by molecular reorientational activation energies of 5.9/25.8 kJ/mol for benzene, 2.5/5.9 kJ/mol for toluene and 2.9/11.5 kJ/mol for benzaldehyde.