Electron transfer, between metal ions inner sphere

The rate-controlling step in reductive dissolution of oxides is surface chemical reaction control. The dissolution process involves a series of ligand-substitution and electron-transfer reactions. Two general mechanisms for electron transfer between metal ion complexes and organic compounds have been proposed (Stone, 1986) inner-sphere and outer-sphere. Both mechanisms involve the formation of a precursor complex, electron transfer with the complex, and subsequent breakdown of the successor complex (Stone, 1986). In the inner-sphere mechanism, the reductant... 

In aqueous solution outer-sphere electron transfer between metal ions and alkyl hydroperoxides [reactions (95) and (96)] is expected to be favorable. In nonpolar solvents, electron transfer probably proceeds via the formation of inner-sphere, covalently bonded complexes. The overall reaction constitutes a catalytic decomposition of the hydroperoxide into alkoxy and alkylperoxy radicals ... 

Electron transfer between metal ions may occur either as inner-sphere (is) or an outer-sphere (os) reaction, The first case involves a ligand exchange and the... 

It is tempting to relate the thermodynamics of electron-transfer between metal atoms or ions and organic substrates directly to the relevant ionization potentials and electron affinities. These quantities certainly play a role in ET-thermo-dynamics but the dominant factor in inner sphere processes in which the product of electron transfer is an ion pair is the electrostatic interaction between the product ions. Model calculations on the reduction of ethylene by alkali metal atoms, for instance [69], showed that the energy difference between the M C2H4 ground state and the electron-transfer state can be... 

Secondly, instead of a pure and simple electron transfer, the redox reaction can be coupled to a chemical reaction in such a way that the electron transfer takes place either after incorporation of the substrate or an intermediate into the inner coordination sphere of a metal ion ( inner-sphere electron transfer), by formation of a charge transfer complex, or in form of a hydrogen or hydride atom abstraction, respectively. In these cases the reaction between redox catalyst and substrate does not directly depend on the difference of the two standard potentials (see Sect. 2.3). 

Let us consider the electron transfer between two rigid metal ions located some distance x from each other in the bulk of the solution. It is assumed that the inner-sphere reorganization of the donor D and acceptor A does not take place. The experiments show that the rate constants of these reactions differ by many orders of magnitude and the processes have an activated character even for identical ions D and A. The questions to be answered are Why does the electron exchange between identical ions in the solution require activation What is the reaction coordinate ... 

Like all redox reactions26,28,967,968 those of copper(II) may be divided into two types (a) outer sphere mechanisms involving electron (or proton) transfer between coordination shells that remain essentially intact and (b) inner sphere mechanisms in which the oxidizing and reducing species are connected by a bridging ligand, which is common to both metal ion coordination spheres."9... 

Inner sphere complexation involves interactions between metal ions and other species in solution which possess lone pairs of electrons. Inner sphere complexation involves the transfer of at least one lone pair of electrons. Those species which possess electron lone pairs are termed ligands and reactions may involve inorganic or organic ligands. 

Finally, we consider the alternative mechanism for electron transfer reactions -the inner-sphere process in which a bridge is formed between the two metal centers. The J-electron configurations of the metal ions involved have a number of profound consequences for this reaction, both for the mechanism itself and for our investigation of the reaction. The key step involves the formation of a complex in which a ligand bridges the two metal centers involved in the redox process. For this to be a low energy process, at least one of the metal centers must be labile. 

Although OH reacts at near-diffusion-controlled rates with inorganic anions [59], there seems to bean upper limit of ca. 3 x 10 dm mol sec in the case of simple hydrated metal ions, irrespective of the reduction potential of M"". Also, there is no correlation between the measured values of 43 and the rates of exchange of water molecules in the first hydration shell of, which rules out direct substitution of OH for H2O as a general mechanism. Other mechanisms that have been proposed are (i) abstraction of H from a coordinated H2O [75,76], and (ii) OH entering the first hydration shell to increase the coordination number by one, followed by inner-sphere electron transfer [77,78]. Data reported [78] for M" = Cr, for which the half-life for water exchange is of the order of days, are consistent with mechanism (ii) ... 

If ligands are involved in the formation of discrete intermediates or if metal ions become ligand-bridged, the process is designated as inner-sphere (IS) electron transfer [52]. In these cases, the electronic interaction between the redox centers is increased substantially, and leads to a lowering of the activation barrier (and hence to increased rates) for the ET reaction [13, 15, 53],... 

Both the reduction of superoxide and that of hydrogen peroxide appear to be inner-sphere reactions that is, a ligand of the metal ion has to be replaced by superoxide or hydrogen peroxide for the reaction to take place. For superoxide this involves overlap between a metal d-orbital and its own accessible tv orbital. Reduction of hydrogen peroxide involves electron transfer to an empty a orbital which is not very accessible [31], Thus, reductions of hydrogen peroxide are generally slower than those of superoxide. The reductions of alkylhydroperoxides are even slower, due to steric hindrance [32,33],... 

Marcus LFER. Oxidation-reduction reactions involving metal ions occur by (wo types of mechanisms inner- and outer-sphere electron transfer. In the former, the oxidant and reductant approach intimately and share a common primary hydration sphere so that the activated complex has a bridging ligand between the two metal ions (M—L—M ). Inner-sphere redox reactions thus involve bond forming and breaking processes like other group transfer and substitution rcaclions, and transition-state theory applies directly to them. In outer-sphere electron transfer, the primary hydration spheres remain intact. The... 

As demonstrated in this chapter, there have always been the fundamental mechanistic questions in oxidation of C-H bonds whether the rate-determining step is ET, PCET, one-step HAT, or one-step hydride transfer. When the ET step is thermodynamically feasible, ET occurs first, followed by proton transfer for the overall HAT reactions, and the HAT step is followed by subsequent rapid ET for the overall hydride transfer reactions. In such a case, ET products, that is, radical cations of electron donors and radical anions of electron acceptors, can be detected as the intermediates in the overall HAT and hydride transfer reactions. The ET process can be coupled by proton transfer and also by hydrogen bonding or by binding of metal ions to the radical anions produced by ET to control the ET process. The borderline between a sequential PCET pathway and a one-step HAT pathway has been related to the borderline between the outer-sphere and inner-sphere ET pathways. In HAT reactions, the proton is provided by radical cations of electron donors because the acidity is significantly enhanced by the one-electron oxidation of electron donors. An electron and a proton are transferred by a one-step pathway or a sequential pathway depending on the types of electron donors and acceptors. When proton is provided externally, ET from an electron donor that has no proton to be transferred to an electron acceptor (A) is coupled with protonation of A -, when the one-electron reduction and protonation of A occur simultaneously. The mechanistic discussion described in this chapter will provide useful guide to control oxidation of C-H bonds. 

The one-electron oxidations described briefly above are referred to as non-bondcd (or outer-sphere) electron transfers (Littler, 1971). They differ from bonded (or inner-sphere) oxidations, such as the oxidation of alcohols by Cr(VI), in that a bond between the organic substrate and the metal ion or the complexed metal ion is not formed. Electron transfers of the non-bonded type may be very fast. Although in the equations above it has been convenient to represent the oxidant as the free ion, this cannot be so in solution, in which the ion must be solvated or complexed in some way. Clear cut cases of non-bonded or outer sphere oxidation can be seen in the use of the hexachloroiridate(IV) ion (40) (Littler, 1971) and the 12-tungstocobalt(III) ion (41) (Chester, 1970). In the latter example... 

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