[amitsachdeva]

I am desperately trying to detect the presence of free radicals (produced by Benzoyl Peroxide) in a solvent. I am looking for an indicator that can detect the presence of free radical species and not the presence of Benzoyl Peroxide itself. Being a preliminary investigation, I don't want to use anything but wet chemistry. I will be glad if I can get any suggestions. Thank you.

[Mitch]

okay, you should read the organic literature, I'm sure this has been done many times before.

I have a crazy idea that you could use cyclohexadiene and monitor the UV-Vis absorbance over time, but I haven't looked this up and you should read-up on radical indicators.

[amitsachdeva]

Thanks for the reply. Is there a direct method that I can use instead of using any kind of sophisticated techniques? At this level, I just want to use pure wet chemistry methods. Thanks.

[Donaldson Tan]

how about using iodine to trap free radicals?

[amitsachdeva]

I found a reference to an article that describes the use of Iodine to detect the presence of peroxides. I wonder if it will show a different color after the dissociation of Benzoyl Peroxide. Dichlorofluorescin is an indicator used detecting free radicals in the medical industry.