THE RADIOLYSIS OF ETHANOL: IV. DEUTERATED ETHANOLS IN THE LIQUID AND GAS PHASES
The value of G(–ethanol) in the vapor phase is nearly double that in the liquid phase. Part of the difference appears to be due to the recombination of radicals in liquid cages. Ethanol molecules, on the average, break into smaller fragments in the gas than in the liquid phase radiolysis. The isotopic compositions of the hydrogen produced from various deuterated ethanols are consistent with the suggestion that the reaction[Formula: see text]occurs to a significant extent in the liquid but not in the gas phase. This reaction probably involves the shift of a hydrogen atom along a hydrogen bond. The reaction[Formula: see text]does not occur to an appreciable extent in the liquid phase. In the liquid phase the relative contributions of the three different groups in the ethanol molecule to hydrogen production are in the order [Formula: see text] A similar trend occurs in the gas, although the contributions of the three groups are more nearly equal in this phase. Isotope effects, in the range kH/kD = 2.2–3.9 per bond, occur in the methane formation mechanism. The isotope effects are somewhat smaller in the liquid than in the vapor phase and somewhat smaller in the inhibited than in the uninhibited systems. A comparison of product distributions in the liquid and gas radiolyses of several compounds by γ-rays and by α-particles indicates that L.E.T. effects can also occur in the gas phase.