TREPR spectra of micelle-confined spin correlated radical pairs: II. Spectral decomposition and asymmetric line shapes

Abstract

In the second paper, spectral decomposition is used to explain the origin of the asymmetry of the anti-phase structure (APS) and its temperature dependence in dynamic spin correlated radical pairs (SCRPs) created via the photoreduction of benzophenone (BP) in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles. It is shown that the main parameters defining the spectral shape of the TREPR spectra are the effectiveness of the electron spin exchange in contact pairs, and the ratio of the frequency of enforced encounters (Z) to the frequency of singlet–triplet mixing (q) in the separated radical pairs. The Z/q ratio is particularly important for the creation of the APS asymmetry. The existence of different q values in the same TREPR spectrum in this system affords the observation of SCRPs in both regimes: exchange broadening (large |q|/Z) and exchange narrowing (small |q|/Z). An important observation, supported by the successful simulation of the TREPR spectra, is that the S-component of the APS can be shifted in a direction opposite to that predicted by the earlier Closs–Forbes–Norris (CFN) model. This result is naturally explained in terms of a spectral exchange approach. Dispersion-like components in the spectra further amplify the asymmetry of the APS.