Methyl Radical in Clathrate Silica Voids. The Peculiar Physisorption Features of the Guest-Host Molecular Dynamics Interaction.

EPR line shape simulations of CH3/SiO2 clathrates and comparison to CH3/N2O and CH3/SiO2 experiments reveal the motional conditions of the CH3 radical up to the unusual regime of its stability, the high-temperature diffusional regime, at 300 K. In the low-temperature region, the CH3 in clathrates is found to rotate around the in-plane axes even at as low temperatures as 3.8 K. However, nonrotating methyls performing only libration about the C2-axes as well as around the C3-axis are also found, proving the existence of special sites in the clathrate voids that begin to accumulate a significant fraction of methyl radicals at temperatures below approximately 7 K. A distinctive feature in the s…