Making radical cations live longer

Abstract

By all measures, 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropan-2-ol (HFP) appears as a solvent with properties at the extreme. Its combination of low nucleophilicity, high hydrogen bonding donor strength, low hydrogen bonding acceptor strength, high polarity and high ionizing power makes it an ideal solvent for radical cations. Applications of HFP as a solvent for EPR spectroscopy and mechanistic studies of radical cations as intermediates in electrophilic aromatic substitution, photochemistry and spin trapping are described.