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Isolation And Characterization Of Charge-Tagged Phenylperoxyl Radicals In The Gas Phase: Direct Evidence For Products And Pathways In Low Temperature Benzene Oxidation, Benjamin Kirk, David Harman, Hilkka Kenttamaa, Adam Trevitt, Stephen Blanksby

Adam Trevitt

The phenylperoxyl radical has long been accepted as a critical intermediate in the oxidation of benzene and an archetype for arylperoxyl radicals in combustion and atmospheric chemistry. Despite being central to many contemporary mechanisms underpinning these chemistries, reports of the direct detection or isolation of phenylperoxyl radicals are rare and there is little experimental evidence connecting this intermediate with expected product channels. We have prepared and isolated two charge-tagged phenyl radical models in the gas phase [i.e., 4-(N,N,N-trimethylammonium)phenyl radical cation and 4-carboxylatophenyl radical anion] and observed their reactions with dioxygen by ion-trap mass spectrometry. Measured reaction rates show good agreement …