Luminescence and Other Spectroscopic Studies of the Reaction of Pyridine and Oxygen with Thermally Activated SrO

Abstract

The reaction of pyridine and O2 on SrO powder has been studied using several different spectroscopic techniques to characterise the intermediate and the final products. Reflectance spectroscopy has been used to demonstrate the formation of the 4,4′-bipyridyl negative ion when pyridine is adsorbed on SrO. Subsequent adsorption of oxygen leads to the formation of the O–2 ion by a one-to-one electron transfer process from the organic ion and photoluminescence studies confirm that the 4,4′-bipyridyl molecule is also formed on the surface when the electron transfer occurs.