Time-Resolved Resonance Raman Study of the Effect of pH on the Photoreactions of 3-Benzoylpyridine in Aqueous Solution

A nanosecond time-resolved resonance Raman investigation of the photoreactions of 3-benzoylpyridine (3-BPy) in different pH aqueous solutions is reported. In neutral, basic, and pH = 5 aqueous solution conditions, the photoreduction reaction from the triplet 3-BPy species is observed to produce the corresponding 3-phenyl pyridyl ketyl radical that was also observed in a 2-propanol solvent. Under moderate acidic conditions (at pH = 3 for example), most of the 3-BPy triplet state species goes through two protonation steps at the nitrogen atom and the carbonyl oxygen atom after UV laser photolysis and then forms a short-lived hydration intermediate via a hydration reaction at the ortho position in the benzene ring. This new species is tentatively assigned to the o-3[3-BPyH+.H2O] hydration species. In acidic aqueous solutions with a pH < or = 1, the protonated triplet states of 3-BPy cations at the nitrogen atom are generated from photoexcitation of the protonated ground state and are subsequently further protonated at the carbonyl oxygen atom to form a 3-BPy-dication triplet state. This dication intermediate reacts with water molecules at the ortho position of the benzene ring to produce the o-3[3-BPyH+.H2O] hydration species. The mechanisms of photoreduction observed for 3-BPy in different pH aqueous solutions were investigated using density functional theory calculations, and these results were used to help assign the intermediates observed in the experiments. The structures and properties of these species are briefly discussed, and an overall photoreaction mechanism is proposed based on the results from the time-resolved resonance Raman experiments and the density functional theory calculations.