AN ESR STUDY OF THE DISTORTION OF NORBORNANE RADICAL-CATION

It was found that norbornane radical cation distorts from the C2v symm etry to a lower one in several frozen matrices at cryogenic temperatur es. The mode of distortion was discussed with the concept of ''pseudo Jahn-Teller effect''. This interpretation was extended to the distorte d structures of other alkane radical cations which have no degenerated highest occupied molecular orbitals (non-Jahn-Teller cation). Effects of the matrices and thermal annealing on the distorted structure were also analyzed.