MAGNETIC-FIELD, ADDITIVE AND STRUCTURAL EFFECTS ON THE DECAY KINETICS OF MICELLIZED TRIPLET RADICAL PAIRS - ROLE OF DIFFUSION, SPIN-ORBIT-COUPLING AND PARAMAGNETIC RELAXATION

The geminate recombination kinetics of the radical pairs produced by quenching of the triplet aromatic ketones or quinones by 4-phenylphenol and 4-phenylaniline in aqueous micellar solutions of sodium alkyl sulfates in the presence of additives (ethanol, NaCl, bromo- and iodobenzenes, paramagnetic species) has been examined using the laser flash technique. The recombination rates increase as the micellar size in decreased. Application of an external magnetic field (0.45 T) results in the retardation of geminate recombination up to 25 times. The magnetic field effect is quenched by internal or even external heavy atoms as well as by paramagnetic species, including O-3(2). The magnetic field dependences and attendant regularities are considered in terms of a simple kinetic scheme, in which the singlet-triplet evolution in the separated states of a pair due to hyperfine coupling and relaxation mechanisms, as well as intersystem recombination due to the spin-orbit coupling in the contact states of a pair, are included as first-order processes. The corresponding kinetic parameters of the different pathways involved are also discussed.