ENDOR Spectroscopy - A Promising Technique for Investigating the Structure of Organic Radicals

The name “ENDOR” has been known since biblical times and denotes a small town close to the Sea of Galilee (ca. 1000 B.C., 1 Sam. 28 : 7 ff). The acronym “ENDOR” (Electron Nuclear DOuble Resonance) characterizes the extension of electron spin resonance to electron‐nuclear double resonance spectroscopy, a method that has opened up new dimensions for the investigation of complicated paramagnetic molecules. Only ENDOR spectoscopy, which has achieved technical perfection in the last decade, overcomes the resolution limitations of EPR spectroscopy, thus allowing interesting applications in the field of biochemistry. ENDOR investigations of the primary process of photosynthesis, of the mode of action of derivatives of vitamin E and K, and of the mechanism of the enzymatic catalysis of flavoenzymes in biological redox‐chains have opened up new vistas. ENDOR and its extension to the triple resonance experiment TRIPLE offer, for example, the potential for a precise determination of hyperfine coupling constants, including their signs, which are frequently especially interesting. In addition to protons, a multiple of magnetic nuclei can be studied by ENDOR, such as e.g. 2H, 13C, and 14N. The ENDOR techniques is not restricted to monoradicals, but can also be applied to polyradicals in spin states of higher multiplicities (triplet, quartet, or quintet state). The experimental data accessible from ENDOR yield information about spin and charge density distributions, and about the geometrics of radicals and their internal dynamics; they also provide an excellent test for the accuracy of quantum mechanical calculations. New dimensions for the investigation of complicated paramagnetic molecules are opened by ENDOR (electron nuclear double resonance) spectroscopy. The technique greatly extends the resolution limits of EPR spectroscopy and permits, inter alia, interesting applications in biochemistry. The EPR (left) and ENDOR spectra (right) shown below originate from a 1,1,3,3‐tetrasubstituted allyl radical; they illustrate both the simplification attainable in the multinuclear experiment as well as the increase in resolution and sensitivity.