Primary and secondary reduction products in irradiated acetic, monofluoroacetic and glycolic acid single crystal

Single crystal of acetic acid, monofluoroacetic acid, and glycolic acid have been irradiated at low temperature and investigated with ESR. The main purpose of the work was to obtain data for the structure and the reactions of the primary reduction products, i.e. the molecular anions. The anions of acetic acid and glycolic acid are stable at 77 K. The monofluoracetic acid anion could not be observed even at 3 K, but a decay product tentatively assigned to the F^-... CH₂COOH adduct was detected. The glycolic acid anion decomposes by elimination of water to ^.CH₂COOH. The radical products ^.CFH₂ and ^.C(OH)H₂ were observed in monofluoracetic and glycolic acid, respectively. They are probably formed by decomposition of the molecular cations.