The fate of alkane radical cations in liquid and solid hydrocarbons. Time-resolved fluorescence detected magnetic resonance

Time-resolved fluorescence detected magnetic resonance (FDMR) is used to observe alkane radical cations generated by electron radiolysis in liquid and solid alkane solutions. The ease of observation of the alkane radical cations (on the time scale of tens to hundreds of nanoseconds) depends strongly on the alkane under study as well as the conditions of temperature and concentration. Ion-molecule reactions such as proton transfer or H-atom transfer are responsible for the very transient nature of the alkane radical cations and possibly account for much of the diversity of hydrocarbon radiation chemistry