Moderator effects on recoil tritium reactions with lithium beta-phenylpropionate.

The recoil tritium reactions were studied with lithium beta-phenylpropionate having both the aromatic and aliphatic C-H bonds in the molecule, mainly in terms of the moderator effect on the intramolecular tritium distribution. Recoil tritium atoms were produced by the 6Li(n,alpha)3H reaction. Water molecules were used as the moderator. The tritium activity of the ethylene group represented relative to that of the corresponding ring assumed as a standard (= 100) is 30 in the moderator-free system and is reduced to 13 in the moderated system in which the H2O/beta-PhC2H4CO2Li mole ratio is 328. In the ring, the tritium distribution shows a slight ortho- and para-orientation in the moderator-free system and the selectivity is pronounced when the H2O/beta-PhC2H4CO2Li mole ratio is large. The data show that the aromatic ring tritiation in the moderated system is given by increasing contribution of the reactions of tritium atoms having lower energy than the threshold energy of the ethylene group tritiation.