The radical anions of five-membered cyclic nitrone spin traps, 3,3,5,5-tetramethyl-1-pyrroline-1-oxide and 1,2,2,5,5-pentamethyl-3-imidazoline-3-oxide, formed under radiolysis of liquid squalane solutions at 250-268 K, were registered by the method of optically detected ESR, and the hfc constants and g-values of the radical anions were determined. The hfc constants of these radical anions were predicted by DFT calculations and were found to be in quantitative agreement with experiment. It was demonstrated that radical anions of the five-membered cyclic nitrones have non-planar geometry with the spin density localized in the C=N-O fragment. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.