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Updated: Aug 8, 2025

A Simple, Low-cost, and Robust System to Measure the Volume of Hydrogen Evolved by Chemical Reactions with Aqueous Solutions
Published on: August 17, 2016
Capturing Hydrogen Radicals by Neutral Metal Hydroxides
Shuai Jiang1,2, Huijun Zheng1,3, Wenhui Yan1,3
1State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China.
Abstract:
Capturing the hydrogen radical is of central importance in various systems ranging from catalysis to biology to astronomy, but it has been proven to be challenging experimentally because of its high reactivity and short lifetime. Here, neutral MO3H4 (M = Sc, Y, La) complexes were characterized by size-specific infrared-vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy. All these products were determined to be the hydrogen radical adducts in the form of H•M(OH)3. The results indicate that the addition of the hydrogen radical to the M(OH)3 complex is both thermodynamically exothermic and kinetically facile in the gas phase. Moreover, the soft collisions in the cluster growth channel with the helium expansion were found to be demanded for the formation of H•M(OH)3. This work highlights the pivotal roles played by the soft collisions in the formation of hydrogen radical adducts and also opens new avenues toward the design and chemical control of compounds.
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