Monomer and dimer radical cations of benzene, toluene, and naphthalene

Pulse radiolytic generation of monomeric and dimeric cations of benzene, toluene, and naphthalene in aqueous acid media at room temperature and their spectrophotometric characterization is discussed. Results presented include measurements of each aromatic's solubility in H(2)O-H(2)SO(4) and H(2)O-HClO(4) media over the acidity range pH 1 to H(0) -7.0, facile oxidative generation, and real-time identification of appropriate cationic transients with respective lambda(max) (nm) and epsilon (M(-1) cm(-1)) values measured as follows: C(6)H(6)(*+) (443, 1145 +/- 75), C(6)H(5)CH(3)(*+) (428, 1230 +/- 90), C(10)H(8)(*+) (381, 3650 +/- 225, and 687, 2210 +/- 160), (C(6)H(6))(2)(*+) (860, 2835 +/- 235), (C(6)H(5)CH(3))(2)(*+) (950, 1685 +/- 155), and (C(10)H(8))(2)(*+) (1040, 4170 +/- 320). Kinetic measurements reveal the respective formation rates of monomeric cations to be near-diffusion controlled, while the forward rate values for the dimeric species generation are marginally slower. The proton activity corrected pK(a) values are found to remain between -2.6 and -1.3 for the ArH(*+) species (C(6)H(6)(*+) most acidic, C(10)H(8)(*+) least acidic), while the pK(a) values of (ArH)(2)(*+) species vary from -5.0 to -3.0 ((C(6)H(6))(2)(*+) most acidic, (C(10)H(8))(2)(*+) least acidic). In H(0) -5 in aqueous H(2)SO(4), the respective stabilization energy of (C(6)H(6))(2)(*+), (C(6)H(5)CH(3))(2)(*+), and (C(10)H(8))(2)(*+) is estimated to be 16.6, 15.0, and 13.7 kcal mol(-1). Thus, the aqueous acid solution emerges as an alternative medium for typical radical-cationic studies, while offering compatibility for the deprotonated radical characterization near neutral pH.