ESR Study of the Dimer Cation of Coronene

Abstract
Treatment of coronene (c), dissolved in SO2, with BF3 affords a variety of ESR spectra depending on the BF3/c concentration ratio and the temperature. To account for the spectra, the formation of monomer and dimer cation species (c+ and c2+) is postulated. Possibly, a trimer cation (c3+) is also formed at relatively high concentrations of coronene. The spectral features are discussed in terms of current theories of ESR spectroscopy.