Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2025

Total Internal Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy TIRAS for the Detection of Solvated Electrons at a Plasma-liquid Interface
Published on: January 24, 2018
Plasmon-Generated Solvated Electrons for Chemical Transformations
David Solti1,2, Kyle D Chapkin1,3,4, David Renard1,2
1Laboratory for Nanophotonics, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, United States.
Abstract:
Methods for generating solvated electrons─free electrons in solution─have focused primarily on alkali metal ionization or high-energy electrons or photons. Here we report the generation of solvated electrons by exciting the plasmon resonance of Al nanocrystals suspended in solution with visible light. Two chemical reactions were performed: a radical-addition reaction with the spin-trap 2-methyl-2-nitrosopropane, and a model cyclization reaction with the radical clock 6-bromohex-1-ene. A quantum efficiency of at least ∼1.1% for plasmon absorbed photon to solvated electron generation can be inferred from the measured radical clock reaction concentration. This study demonstrates a simple way to generate solvated electrons for driving reductive organic chemical reactions in a quantifiable and controlled manner.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Electrophiles
While a positive electrophile, like a proton, reacts due to its vacant, low-energy 1s orbital, the...
Photosystem II
The pigment molecules are arranged across two photosystem domains — the antenna complex and the reaction center. The main aim of the pigment...
Radical Formation: Abstraction
Even though homolysis produces radicals, it is different from radical...
π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview
Radical Formation: Homolysis
Photosystem I
Both these photosystems work in concert. An excited electron from PSII is relayed to PSI via an electron transport chain in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast, which is comprised of the carrier molecule plastoquinone, the dual-protein cytochrome complex, and plastocyanin. As electrons move between PSII and PSI, they lose energy and must be re-energized...

