Solvated and Stabilized Electrons in Radiation‐Chemical Processes

Abstract The electrons solvated in metal‐ammonia solutions are relatively stable; by contrast, hydrated electrons are very unstable and have been discovered only recently during radiolysis of water. They can be regarded as the simplest radicals. Radiation chemical production of solvated electrons has proved to be a particularly elegant method for the qualitative and quantitative investigation of the reactions between these electrons and numerous compounds, whose rates are partly controlled by diffusion. It has been possible in some cases to identify optically and ESR‐spectroscopically the resulting short‐lived products (radical‐anions). The similarity between the physical and chemical properties of electrons solvated in solutions and those of electrons stabilized in the solid phase suggests that the two species are identical.