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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Exploring the Radical Nature of a Carbon Surface by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance and a Calibrated Gas Flow
Published on: April 24, 2014
A carbon-centered radical unreactive toward oxygen: unusual radical stabilization by a lactone ring
Abstract:
A lactone ring confers unusual stability to a diphenylmethyl-like radical that is virtually unreactive toward oxygen. Thus, the radical derived from HP-136 is about 10,000 times less reactive than typical carbon-centered radicals. A reversible reaction with oxygen is proposed by analogy with triphenylmethyl; however, the association constant is about 1000 times smaller for HP-136 than for triphenylmethyl. While the lactone ring greatly influences the reactivity, the spectroscopy of the HP-136-derived radical is in line with that expected for a substituted diphenylmethyl radical.
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