Absolute magnitude of spin polarization in the radical-triplet pair mechanism: CIDEP generation by level crossings in a triplet-doublet interaction

Chemically induced dynamic electron polarization (CIDEP) generated through the interaction of the excited triplet state of benzophenone with the 2,2,6,6,-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxyl (TEMPO) radical was investigated by time-resolved ESR spectroscopy in benzene solution. We carefully examined what factors control the CIDEP intensities. By comparing the CIDEP intensity of TEMPO obtained in the triplet benzophenone-TEMPO system with the intensity in the C60-TEMPO system, the absolute magnitude of net emissive polarization was determined to be −6.9 in the unit of Boltzmann polarization. The emissive polarization is attributed to state mixing between a quartet and a doublet in the radical-triplet pair induced by the zero-field splitting interaction of the counter triplet molecule. Our result is quantitatively explained by the theory that the net CIDEP is generated predominantly in regions where the quartet and doublet levels cross. This indicates that the quenching of the excited triplet benzophenone by TEMPO in benzene can proceed via an electron-exchange interaction.