Kinetics of hydrated electron reactions with phosphate anions: a laser photolysis study

Abstract

The decay kinetics of hydrated electron (e_aq ⁻) formed upon photolysis of aqueous solutions of sodium pyrene-1,3,6,8-tetrasulfonate at λ = 337 nm in the presence of phosphate anions (up to 2 mol L⁻¹) was studied by nanosecond laser-pulse photolysis in a wide range of pH (3.5–10) and ionic strength (I, up to 2 mol L⁻¹) values. At high pH values, where the HPO₄ ²⁻ ions dominate, the e_aq ⁻ decay kinetics depends only slightly on phosphate concentration (rate constant for the reaction is at most 2·10⁵ L mol⁻¹ s⁻¹). The H₂PO₄ ⁻ ions react with e_aq ⁻ at a rate constant of 2.8·10⁶ L mol⁻¹ s⁻¹ (I = 0), which increases linearly with the parameter $\exp ({{\sqrt I } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\sqrt I } {1 + \sqrt I }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {1 + \sqrt I }})$ in accordance with the Debye-Hückel theory. The rate constant for quenching of e_aq ⁻ by H₃PO₄ at pH ≤ 4 decreases linearly with the parameter $\exp ({{\sqrt I } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\sqrt I } {1 + \sqrt I }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {1 + \sqrt I }})$ due to the secondary salt effect and equals 1.6·10⁹ L mol⁻¹ s⁻¹ at I = 0. The logarithm of the rate constant for quenching of e_aq ⁻ by phosphates is linearly related to the number of the O-H bonds in the phosphate molecule.