Pressure and temperature dependence of the recombination of p-fluorobenzyl radicals

The rate constants of the recombination reaction of p-fluorobenzyl radicals, p-F-C6H4CH2 + p-F-C6H4CH2 (+M) -> C14H12F2 (+M), have been measured over the pressure range 0.2-800 bar and the temperature range 255-420 K. Helium, argon, and CO2 were employed as bath gases (M). At pressures below 0.9 bar in Ar and CO2, and 40 bar in He, the rate constant k(1) showed no dependence on the pressure and the nature of the bath gas, clearly indicating that it had reached the limiting high-pressure value of the energy-transfer (ET) mechanism (k(1,infinity)(ET)). A value of k(1,infinity)(ET)(T) = (4.3 +/- 0.5) x 10(-11) (T/300 K)(-0.2) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) was determined. At pressures above about 5 bar, the k(1) values in Ar and CO2 were found to gradually increase in a pressure range where according to energy-transfer mechanism, they should remain at the constant value k(1,infinity)(ET). The enhancement of the recombination rate constant beyond the value k(1,infinity)(ET) increased in the order He < Ar < CO2, and it became more pronounced with decreasing temperature. The dependences of k(1) on pressure, temperature, and the bath gas were similar to previous observations in the recombination of benzyl radicals. The effect of fluorine-substitution of the benzyl ring on k(1) values is discussed. The present results confirm the significant role of radical complexes in the recombination kinetics of benzyl-type radicals in the gas-liquid transition range. The observations on a rate enhancement beyond the experimental value of k(1,infinity)(ET) at elevated densities up to the onset of diffusion-control are consistently explained by the kinetic contribution of a "radical-complex" mechanism which is solely based on standard van der Waals interaction between radicals and bath gases.