Stable nitroxide radicals and ESR techniques have been used to investigate rotational and translational motions of molecules in the liquid state. It is found that for hydrocarbons and molecules with low polarity the rotational frequencies are about an order of magnitude faster than translational encounters. Arrhenius parameters are reported for the rates of both types of processes. A scheme is given for the relation of these motions to radical recombination in solution and also to reactions requiring activation energy. The consequences of this scheme are examined.
Such important properties as hydrodynamic fluidity, thermal conductivity, processes of extraction and solution, occurring in the liquid phase as well as at the interface are determined by mobility of particles in the liquid. The problem of molecular mobility is of essential significance for the kinetics of chemical and chemico-physical processes in the liquid phase.
Application of both ESR techniques and stable nitroxide radicals for kinetic studies of molecular motions in liquids and the correlation between molecular mobility and the kinetic parameters of liquid-phase radical reactions have been studied in the present paper.