Selectivity and efficiency of pyrene attachment to alkanes induced by broadband X-rays

Bombardment of pyrene-doped n-heneicosane (C21H44) in its orthorhombic solid phase with MeV broadband X-rays results in the formation of both mono- and di-heneicosylpyrenes, whereas the same dose in liquid cyclohexane yields only monosubstituted pyrene. In both cases, the reaction efficiency decreases as pyrene concentration is increased from 10-5 to 10-2 M. Qualitatively, the overall attachment efficiency is higher in orthorhombic n-heneicosane than in liquid cyclohexane, but the selectivity of attachment is greater in cyclohexane. Differences between these results and those from irradiations of the same samples with eV range photons are discussed.