Quantitative determination of the selectivities of five different phenyl radicals in hydrogen atom abstraction from ethanol.

An experimental method is described for obtaining quantitative selectivity information for H-atom abstraction by organic radicals from different sites of a substrate in the gas phase. The method is used to determine the selectivities of five different phenyl radicals toward the three different types of hydrogen atoms in ethanol. This experimental method involves studying the reactivities and selectivities of derivatives of the radicals that contain a chemically inert, charged group (distonic ions), which allows them to be manipulated in a Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer.