The reaction of triphenyltin with nitrous acid in aqueous phase in the presence and absence of O2 was studied by laser flash photolysis technique. The main characteristic peaks in these transient absorption spectra were attributed and the build-up/decay trends were investigated. Triphenyltin cation reacts with OH radical to produce Sn(C6H5)3+-OH adduct and the reaction rate was measured to be (7.9±1.2)×109 L mol-1 s-1. Sn(C6H5)3+-OH adduct decayed at a constant of (1.87±0.25)×105 s-1 and (1.15±0.15)×105 s-1 in the presence and absence of O2 respectively, and the decay rate in the presence O2 was higher due to the reaction between Sn(C6H5)3+-OH and O2 to produce Sn(C6H5)3+-OHO2 at a rate constant of (6.0±2.9) ×107 L mol-1 s-1 .

Key words: laser flash photolysis, transient absorption spectra, triphenyltin chloride, •, OH radical