Blue-colored tert-butylamine clathrate hydrate.

Clathrate hydrates preserve active species more stably than the other icy materials and investigation of the behavior of the active species elucidates the physicochemical properties of clathrate hydrates like guest-guest interaction. Color of the tert-butylamine clathrate hydrate changes to blue after gamma irradiation and is bleachable with visible light. The electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrum at 120 K mainly consists of a triplet signal of the C-centered radical NH2C(CH3)2CH2• together with a single signal at g = 2.0008. The latter signal disappears after light exposure. These results indicate that both the blue color and the single ESR signal are derived from trapped electrons in the hydrate. They thermally decay around 140-160 K by the first-order reaction, and the activation energy is 27 kJ/mol. Since tert-butylamine molecules can capture protons due to the high proton affinity, electrons may remain in the hydrate without reacting with protons, making the hydrate blue after gamma irradiation. The long-lived trapped electrons in the tert-butylamine hydrate have an advantage to investigate those in icy materials because tert-butylamine hydrate is nonionic and has a tetra-coordinated host water network like crystalline ice without any substitution for water molecules.

Synergistic formation of carboxyl and methyl radicals in CO2 + methane mixed gas hydrates.

The formation mechanisms of γ-ray-induced carboxyl (HOCO) and methyl radicals in CO2 + methane mixed gas hydrates, which are inclusion compounds of H2O, CO2, and methane, were investigated. The HOCO and methyl radicals were observed in CO2 + methane mixed gas hydrates by electron spin resonance (ESR) at 120 K after irradiation at 77 K. The amounts of the HOCO and methyl radicals induced in the mixed hydrates are much higher than those in pure CO2 and methane hydrates. Both radicals are synergistically formed in the mixed hydrates by efficient reactions between the guest molecules (CO2 and methane) and the active species (electron, proton, and hydroxyl radical) induced from H2O.

Nucleophilic reactions of bromocyclopentane in the structure-H methane + bromocyclopentane mixed hydrate system at high pressures.

Thermodynamic stability boundary in the structure-H methane + bromocyclopentane mixed hydrate system was measured at pressures from 20 to 100 MPa. The thermodynamic stability boundary of the methane + bromocyclopentane mixed hydrate exhibits anomalous behavior under conditions at high pressures and high temperatures. This phenomenon is due to the elimination and substitution reactions of bromocyclopentane to cyclopentene and cyclopentanol, respectively. The nucleophilic reactions of bromocyclopentane are mainly advanced in the liquid bromocyclopentane-rich phases, while it is restrained when bromocyclopentane is enclathrated in hydrate cage.

Reactions of HOCO radicals through hydrogen-atom hopping utilizing clathrate hydrates as an observational matrix.

The carboxyl (HOCO) radical, which is an important species in atmospheric chemistry and combustion, is an intermediate in the reaction: CO + OH → CO2 + H and serves as a hydrogen donor to the reaction partners. The cis-HOCO radical, one of the ground-state HOCO radicals, is supposed to be decomposed into CO2 and the hydrogen atom by a tunneling effect. In order to prove the hypothesis, we performed electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements to investigate the decay mechanisms of the ground-state HOCO and DOCO radicals in gamma-ray-irradiated CO2 hydrates, which may hold the radicals stably. The ground-state HOCO and DOCO radicals decayed according to a second-order decay model and transformed into formic acid and CO2. The ratio of the decay rate constants of HOCO and DOCO radicals shows a good agreement with that in the kinetic isotope effect for the hydrogen and deuterium abstraction reactions. These results indicate that they react with another HOCO radical in the adjacent hydrate cage without the tunneling effect. This implies that the ground-state HOCO radicals are not decomposed by the tunneling effect but are decayed through reactions with some atoms, molecules, and/or radicals even in the gas phase. In addition, the hydrogen-atom hopping through the temporary hydrogen bonds between the HOCO radical and CO2 results in a seeming diffusion of the HOCO radicals in the CO2 hydrate; this would be an important concept for the studies of the radical diffusions and the supply of hydrogen atoms in gas, liquid, and solid phases.

Structure-H methane + 1,1,2,2,3,3,4-heptafluorocyclopentane mixed hydrate at pressures up to 373 MPa.

Thermodynamic stability boundary of structure-H hydrates with large guest species and methane (CH4) at extremely high pressures has been almost unclear. In the present study, the four-phase equilibrium relations in the structure-H CH4 + 1,1,2,2,3,3,4-heptafluorocyclopentane (1,1,2,2,3,3,4-HFCP) mixed hydrate system were investigated in a temperature range of (281.05 to 330.12) K and a pressure range up to 373 MPa. The difference between equilibrium pressures in the structure-H CH4 + 1,1,2,2,3,3,4-HFCP mixed hydrate system and the structure-I simple CH4 hydrate system gets larger with increase in temperature. The structure-H CH4 + 1,1,2,2,3,3,4-HFCP mixed hydrate survives even at 330 K and 373 MPa without any structural phase transition. The maximum temperature where the structure-H CH4 + 1,1,2,2,3,3,4-HFCP mixed hydrate is thermodynamically stable is likely to be beyond that of the structure-H simple CH4 hydrate.

Intermolecular hydrogen transfer between guest species in small and large cages of methane + propane mixed gas hydrates.

To investigate the molecular interaction between guest species inside of the small and large cages of methane + propane mixed gas hydrates, thermal stabilities of the methyl radical (possibly induced in small cages) and the normal propyl and isopropyl radicals (induced in large cages) were investigated by means of electron spin resonance measurements. The increase of the total amount of the normal propyl and isopropyl radicals reveals that the methyl radical in the small cage withdraws one hydrogen atom from the propane molecule enclathrated in the adjacent large cage of the structure-II hydrate. A guest species in a hydrate cage has the ability to interact closely with the other one in the adjacent cages. The clathrate hydrate may be utilized as a possible nanoscale reaction field.

Hydrogen transfer from guest molecule to radical in adjacent hydrate-cages.

Electron spin resonance measurement of gamma-ray-irradiated propane hydrates shows that the normal propyl radical withdraws hydrogen from the adjacent propane molecule through the hexagonal planes of the hydrate cage without water molecule bridging.

Activation energy of methyl radical decay in methane hydrate.

The thermal stability of gamma-ray-induced methyl radicals in methane hydrate was studied using the ESR method at atmospheric pressure and 210-260 K. The methyl radical decay proceeded with the second-order reaction, and ethane molecules were generated from the dimerization process. The methyl radical decay proceeds by two different temperature-dependent processes, that is, the respective activation energies of these processes are 20.0 +/- 1.6 kJ/mol for the lower temperature region of 210-230 K and 54.8 +/- 5.7 kJ/mol for the higher temperature region of 235-260 K. The former agrees well with the enthalpy change of methane hydrate dissociation into ice and gaseous methane, while the latter agrees well with the enthalpy change into liquid water and gaseous methane. The present findings reveal that methane hydrates dissociate into liquid (supercooled) water and gaseous methane in the temperature range of 235-260 K.