Dynamics of the transient species generated upon photolysis of diarylmethanes within zeolites — Deprotonation and oxidation reactions

Abstract

The oxidation of diarylmethanes is a multistep process involving initial formation of a radical cation, deprotonation of the radical cation to the radical, and oxidation of the radical to the carbocation. The dynamics and efficiency of the last two steps in this process, namely deprotonation and oxidation, in acidic zeolites and non-acid zeolites are examined in the present work as a function of the acidity of the diarylmethane radical cations and the oxidation potential of the diarylmethyl radicals. Our results indicate that rate constants for deprotonation strongly depend on the acidity of the radical cations, but not on the composition of the zeolites. In addition, oxidation of the radicals to the diarylmethyl cations is strongly dependent on both the oxidation potential of the radicals and the oxidizing ability of the zeolite. This dependence allows oxidation potentials of the zeolites to be estimated.Key words: radical cations, carbocations, zeolites, laser flash photolysis.