Spin-trapping study of the radiolysis of CCl4

Abstract

This paper reports the spin trapping of radicals in liquid CCl₄ irradiated with low-energy X-rays of different wavelengths, using phenyl-t-butylnitrone (PBN) as a spin trap. The unstable PBN-Cl adduct and the relatively stable PBN-CCl₃ adduct have been detected. X-rays of energy above the K-edge for chlorine produce significantly more trapped radicals than those having energies below this K-edge value. This enhancement of radical formation is a consequence of the Auger effect, which follows the inner-shell photoabsorption. Experiments have also been made on trapping the radicals generated by the decay of tritium in a solution of tritiated methanol in CCl₄.