Simple technique makes it easier to access and exploit hydrogen radicals

A new technique produces hydrogen radicals using mild conditions and off-the-shelf reagents. The method eliminates the harsh conditions that have previously been required to generate these extremely reactive species, making them much easier for scientists to use and exploit. ‘Any chemist could run it,’ says project leader Roopender Kumar from University College London, UK.

Previously, preparing the hydrogen radical – the simplest radical species, formed of just a single proton and an electron – was a complicated process, explains Kumar. ‘To liberate a hydrogen atom from molecules like water […] you must break bonds that are exceptionally strong,’ he says. ‘Brute force’ routes to radicals included ‘white-hot filaments, electrical discharges, mercury lamps or ionising radiation,’ Kumar notes.