Elucidating solvent effects on the stability of phenoxyl radicals in monohydric alcohols via electron paramagnetic resonance

Research on solvent effects is an important and long-standing topic, but there still is some room, especially for the special solvent effect of fluoroalcohols. In this work, we investigated the stability of phenoxyl radical in monohydric alcohol solvents through in-situ electron paramagnetic resonance detections. The decay behavior of phenoxyl radical showed a reasonable relationship with the mesoscopic structure of alcohols, characterized by small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering. Moreover, the distinct solvent effects of fluoroalcohols were emphasized, and the significant influence of van der Waals distance in the solvents was suggested. Overall, the stability of phenoxyl radical in alcohols was quantified and correlated with the solvent structures. We believe that the established method for stability study on radicals will encourage solvent effect studies on various organic reactions, and the proposed solvent effects in fluoroalcohols may inspire the development of green solvents in both industrial conversions and organic synthesis.