Abstract
The application of electron spin resonance (ESR) in the study of the kinetics of chemical reactions involving free radicals and paramagnetic ions is a very promising and rapidly developing field of study. In the first part of the review certain theoretical aspects and latest advances in studies on the kinetics of chemical reactions by the ESR method are discussed. Particular attention has been given to methods of analysis of the ESR spectra of free radicals, to methods for the calculation of concentrations, and also to a new method for the determination of local concentrations of paramagnetic centres from the dipole–dipole contribution to ESR line width.
In the second part of the review examples of the application of electron spin resonance in chemical kinetics are examined, and studies on radical reactions and the cage effect in solid matrices, and also measurements of steady-state concentrations of active radicals directly in the course of chemical reactions are discussed in detail.