Clathrate hydrates for ozone preservation.

We report the experimental evidence for the preservation of ozone (O(3)) encaged in a clathrate hydrate. Although ozone is an unstable substance and is apt to decay to oxygen (O(2)), it may be preserved for a prolonged time if it is encaged in hydrate cavities in the form of isolated molecules. This possibility was assessed using a hydrate formed from an ozone + oxygen gas mixture coexisting with carbon tetrachloride or xenon. Each hydrate sample was stored in an air-filled container at atmospheric pressure and a constant temperature in the range between -20 and 2 degrees C and was continually subjected to iodometric measurements of its fractional ozone content. Such chronological measurements and structure analysis using powder X-ray diffraction have revealed that ozone can be preserved in a hydrate-lattice structure for more than 20 days at a concentration on the order of 0.1% (hydrate-mass basis).