Base-Catalyzed Ship-in-a-Bottle Synthesis of a Prefluorescent, Zeolite-Incorporated Sensor for Monitoring Radical Processes in Zeolites

Prefluorescent probe dansyl-TEMPO was synthesized within NaY supercages by means of a base-catalyzed ship-in-a-bottle synthesis to yield the supramolecular assembly DT@NaY, providing the first example of basecatalyzed synthesis in the normally acidic zeolite cavities. This material was successfully employed in the solid state as a sensor to monitor intercavity diffusion of carbon-centered radicals produced by AIBN thermolysis and in a slurry to study the interpore diffusion of carbon-centered radicals produced in solution from a suitable precursor (3,3ʹ-diphenyl3H,3ʹH-[3,3ʹ]bibenzofuranyl-2,2ʹ-dione, 6). The dynamics of hydrogen atom transfer from a good donor, such as the synthetic lactone antioxidant 3-phenyl-2coumaranone, to DT@NaY were also investigated in benzene slurry