Picosecond Pulse Radiolysis Study of Dynamics of Solvation of Electron and Fluorenone Anion in Primary Alcohols

We have studied the dynamics of solvation of electron injected directly into primary alcohols as well as that of fluorenone anion using pulse radiolysis technique with the time resolution of about 15 ps. Unlike in the previous reports, we observe nonexponential dynamics of both electron and anion solvation. While the ultrafast component, τ₁ (<15 ps) representing the inertial time scale of the dynamics is faster than the time resolution of the spectrometer, the slower component, τ₂, has been assigned to the translational motion leading to structural changes of the hydrogen bonding network of the solvent in the inner solvation cell or alcohol cluster. τ₂ agrees well with the electron solvation times reported by the earlier authors. τ₃ is associated with the restructuring of the hydrogen bond network structure of the solvent in the region outside the solvation cell. Nonexponential solvation dynamics of the fluorenone anion has been described well by a two-component process. The most important observation in this work is that the lifetime of the shorter component, τ₁, determined in four alcoholic solvents, is much longer than the electron solvation time in the corresponding solvents determined in this work or anion solvation time reported earlier. The lifetime of this component is nearly comparable with the average dipolar solvation time but shorter than the longitudinal relaxation time of the solvent. In the case of anion, τ₁ has been assigned to the restructuring of the first solvation shell by breakage of solvent hydrogen bonds of the fluorenone molecule and formation of hydrogen bonds with the anion. In this case, too, the longer component, τ₂, with the lifetime of a few nanoseconds, has been assigned to reorganization of hydrogen bonds in the solvent hydrogen bond network structure