Effect of reduction and butylation on coal: Application of microwave saturation of two-component EPR spectra

Changes in individual groups of paramagnetic centers after reduction and reductive butylation of Polish flame coal (70.8 wt.% C) were studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The modern method of reductive butylation of coal in a potassium-liquid ammonia system was used. This process increases the solubility of coal in organic solvents. Microwave saturation of EPR spectra was applied to test the spin-lattice relaxation in coal. The measured EPR spectra were a superposition of broad (ΔB _pp, 0.42–0.49 mT) and narrow (ΔB _pp, 0.09–0.13 mT) Lorentz lines. Paramagnetic centers located in simple and multiring aromatic structures were responsible for the broad and narrow lines, respectively. Microwave saturation indicates that slow and fast spin-lattice relaxation processes are characteristic for these two types of structures in the original coal. A decrease of the microwave power saturation of the broad Lorentz line after a single reduction of coal was observed. It increased for both 4 times reduced coal and reductively butylated coal. As the result of multiple reduction and butylation, spin-lattice relaxation processes in simple coal aromatic units were fastened. The narrow Lorentz lines of both 4 times reduced and reductively butylated coal were saturated and the spin-lattice relaxation time increased.