Radiolysis of Aqueous Solutions of Benzene and of Phenol

Both benzene and phenol are without effect on the primary'' yields of H, OH, H/sub 2/, and H/sub 2/O/sub 2/ in the radiolysis of water. It is concluded that they have no effect on the immediate (excited or ionized) precursors of those products; i.e., they show no true protective effect (7) in water. In other words, if some persistent excited state of water is involved in formation of reaction products, its half-life is nevertheless so short as to forbid interaction with dissolved benzene or phenol. Benzene reacts much more rapidly with free OH radical than does phenol (through reaction 6), but the rate constant for reaction with free H atom is about half as treat as for phenol. (auth)