Radical cations of branched alkanes in solutions: time-resolved magnetic field effect and quantum chemical studies

Radical cations of heptane and octane isomers, as well as several longer branched alkanes, were detected in irradiated n-hexane solutions at room temperature by the method of time-resolved magnetic field effect (TR MFE). To identify radical cations, the hyperfine coupling constants as determined by simulation of the TR MFE curves were compared to the constants calculated using the density functional theory (DFT) approach. The g-values of the observed radical cations were close to that of the 2,2,3,3-tetramethylbutane radical cation studied earlier by optically detected electron spin resonance (ESR) and TR MFE techniques. No evidence of the decay of the radical cations of branched alkanes to produce olefin radical cations was found, which was further supported by the observation of positive charge transfer from the observed radical cations to cycloalkane molecules. The lifetimes of the radical cations of the branched alkanes were found to be longer than tens of nanoseconds.