Electron spin polarization during the photolysis of pivalophenone (phenyl t-butyl ketone)

Abstract

Solution-phase photolysis of pivalophenone (phenyl t-butyl ketone) gives radicals with a spin polarization showing complex time-evolution. It is suggested that the polarization may be due to a process involving two rates of separation of the initial radical pair. One is separation from a triplet pair; the other, slower departure is from a singlet pair generated from the initial triplet pair by the strong perturbations arising from the t-butyl hyperfine interactions.