One-Electron Transfer in Reactions of Stable Organic Radicals with Oxygen

Mechanisms of oxidation of stable organic radicals with molecular oxygen are based on a fundamental physical interaction, namely Coulomb interaction. Provided that there is certain structural correspondence between the oxygen molecule and radical center of the substrate, one-electron transfer occurs in the reaction system via the tunneling effect. The electronic structure of unstable triradical generated in the reaction system as a result of one-electron transfer undergoes reorganization into energetically more favorable monoradical structure.