Plasma-induced free radicals of polycrystalline dicarbohydrates studied by electron spin resonance

We report here special features of plasma-induced free radicals of dicarbohydrates, such as maltose and cellobiose, on its comparison with those of amylose and cellulose. The simulated spectra disclosed that the observed spectra of maltose consist of four kinds of spectral components, two isotropic spectra [doublets (I) and triplets (II)] both being assigned to hydroxylalkyl radicals and an anisotropic spectrum [doublet of doublers (IV)], assigned to an acylalkyl radical, and a smeared-out single line spectrum (V), assigned to an immobilized dangling-bond site (DBS) at the surface cross-linked region. On the other hand, those of cellobiose consist of five kinds of spectral components, I, II, IV, V and triplet spectrum (III) different in hyperfine splitting constant (HSC) from II, but assignable to the other hydroxylalkyl radicals. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.