Radiation Damage in Organic Crystals. II. Electron Spin Resonance of (CO2H)CH2CH(CO2H) in β-Succinic Acid

An analysis of the electron spin resonance of x-irradiated single crystals of β-succinic acid shows that: (a) the principal long-lived paramagnetic species produced by the radiation damage is (CO2H)CH2–ĊH(CO2H); (b) the radical is oriented in the crystal lattice in nearly the same way that the parent succinic acid molecule is oriented in the undamaged lattice; (c) the strongly anisotropic hyperfine interaction due to the σ proton is very nearly the same as that previously found for the σ proton in the malonic acid radical, (CO2H)ĊH(CO2H). In these molecules the σ proton is directly bonded to the carbon atom on which the odd electron is largely localized. The two methylene protons in the radical are not equivalent, and their hyperfine interactions are nearly isotropic, and in the range 80–100 Mc.