Аннотация:Ultraviolet irradiation of aromatic ketones in the presence of hydrogen- or electron-donors leads to
the photochemical reduction of the carbonyl group [1-3]. When such processes are accompanied by hydrogen
transfer, the donor and acceptor molecules are converted into neutral radicals. When the photolysis
is carried out at low temperature, these radicals are quite stable and may form a single two-spin system,
viz. a radical pair (RP), with a characteristic ESR spectrum [4].
The photochemical reduction of frozen solutions of sterically hindered 3,6-di-t-butyl- o-benzoquinone
and 2,4,6-tri-t-butylphenoI in benzene and CCI 4 leads to the formation of RP's in which the distance between
the unpaired electrons is 6.3 A. The RP's consist of 3,6-di-t-butyl-4-oxophenoxyl and 2 , 4 , 6 - t r i - t -
butylphenoxyl radicals, and they are formed as a result of the photochemical dehydrogenation of the phenol
by triplet-excited quinone molecules.