Electron transfer reactions outer sphere mechanism

Important progress was made when it was realized that there are, in principle, two types of mechanisms of electron-transfer reactions, outer-sphere and inner-sphere mechanisms. ... 

Romanian scientists compared one-electron transfer reactions from triphenylmethyl or 2-methyl benzoyl chloride to nitrobenzene in thermal (210°C) conditions and on ultrasonic stimulation at 50°C (lancu et al. 1992, Vinatoru et al. 1994, Chivu et al. 2006). In the first step, the chloride cation-radical and the nitrobenzene anion-radicals are formed. In the thermal and acoustic variants, the reactions lead to the same set of products with one important exception The thermal reaction results in the formation of HCl, whereas ultrasonic stimulation results in CI2 evolution. At present, it is difficult to elucidate the mechanisms behind these two reactions. As an important conclusion, the sonochemical process goes through the inner-sphere electron transfer. The outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism is operative in the thermally induced process. 

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... 

Redox reactions involving metal ions occur by two types of mechanisms inner-sphere and outer-sphere electron transfer. In inner-sphere mechanisms, the oxidant and reductant approach intimately and share a common primary hy-... 

In the case of reactions with Co(II), the difference in the rate of reduction can be explained by different mechanisms for the two reactions. The reduction of [Co(NH3)5(OH)] proceeds via inner-sphere mechanism Co(II) complexes are labile (see Fig. 21.1) whereas [Co(NH3)5(OH)] has OH ligand that can serve as a bridging ligand. The (Co(NH3)5(H20)] has no bridging ligands and the only mechanistic pathway for the electron-transfer is outer sphere. 

This simplified discussion of electron transfer for outer sphere interactions where the electron is transferred through solvent molecules is given to provide a conceptual basis for understanding this kind of reaction. Many electron transfer reactions are more complicated due to quantum mechanics effects (electron tunneling) and inner sphere interactions (Astruc, 1995). Basolo and Pearson (1967) give more details about electron transfer reactions. 

There are two types of electron transfer mechanisms for transition metal species, outer- and inner-sphere electron transfers. The outer-sphere electron transfer occurs when the outer coordination sphere (or solvent) of the metal centers is involved in transferring electrons. This type of transfer does not imply reorganization of the inner coordination sphere of either reactant. An example of this reaction is given in Equation (3.54) ... 

Reduction of O3 by [IrClg] , shown in Eq. (4), is first-order in both reactants and has a second-order rate constant of 1.7x 10 s" at 25.0 °C. ° The initial electron transfer is outer-sphere in nature and allows computation of a self-exchange rate of 4M s for the 03/Of couple. Comparisons of this rate constant with the results of other electron transfer reactions of O3 reveal that inner-sphere mechanisms are common. 

On the basis of these results it seems to the present author that inner and outer complexes can reasonably be assumed for the electron transfer to the diazonium ion, but that an outer-sphere mechanism is more likely for metal complexes with a completely saturated coordination sphere of relatively high stability, such as Fe(CN) (Bagal et al., 1974) or ferrocene (Doyle et al., 1987 a). Romming and Waerstad (1965) isolated the complex obtained from a Sandmeyer reaction of benzenediazonium ions and [Cu B ]- ions. The X-ray structural data for this complex also indicate an outer-sphere complex. 

Kinetics and mechanism of the outer sphere electron transfer reactions between complex ions. E. D. German, Rev. Inorg. Chem., 1983, 5,123-184 (132). 

In the same way that we considered two limiting extremes for ligand substitution reactions, so may we distinguish two types of reaction pathway for electron transfer (or redox) reactions, as first put forth by Taube. For redox reactions, the distinction between the two mechanisms is more clearly defined, there being no continuum of reactions which follow pathways intermediate between the extremes. In one pathway, there is no covalently linked intermediate and the electron just hops from one center to the next. This is described as the outer-sphere mechanism (Fig. 9-4). 

Figure 9-4. The outer-sphere mechanism for an electron transfer reaction between two complexes. No covalently-linked intermediate is involved in the reaction.

The reduction ofsec-, and /-butyl bromide, of tnins-1,2-dibromocyclohexane and other vicinal dibromides by low oxidation state iron porphyrins has been used as a mechanistic probe for investigating specific details of electron transfer I .v. 5n2 mechanisms, redox catalysis v.v chemical catalysis and inner sphere v.v outer sphere electron transfer processes7 The reaction of reduced iron porphyrins with alkyl-containing supporting electrolytes used in electrochemistry has also been observed, in which the electrolyte (tetraalkyl ammonium ions) can act as the source of the R group in electrogenerated Fe(Por)R. ... 

As regards intimate mechanism, electron transfer reactions of metal complexes are of two basic types. These have become known as outer-sphere and inner-sphere (see Chapter 4, Volume 2). In principle, an outer-sphere process occurs with substitution-inert reactants whose coordination shells remain intact in... 

The elementary electrochemical reactions differ by the degree of their complexity. The simplest class of reactions is represented by the outer-sphere electron transfer reactions. An example of this type is the electron transfer reactions of complex ions. The electron transfer here does not result in a change of the composition of the reactants. Even a change in the intramolecular structure (inner-sphere reorganization) may be neglected in many cases. The only result of the electron transfer is then the change in the outer-sphere solvation of the reactants. The microscopic mechanism of this type of reaction is very close to that for the outer-sphere electron transfer in the bulk solution. Therefore, the latter is worth considering first. 

Cytochrome c is responsible for accepting an electron from cytochrome Ci and transferring it to cytochrome c oxidase. The electron transfer reaction may occur via the exposed portion of the ring or by tunnelling through the protein (and involving an outer-sphere mechanism). The details of this process have not been fully elucidated and have remained the focus of much research. 

The theory of electron-transfer reactions presented in Chapter 6 was mainly based on classical statistical mechanics. While this treatment is reasonable for the reorganization of the outer sphere, the inner-sphere modes must strictly be treated by quantum mechanics. It is well known from infrared spectroscopy that molecular vibrational modes possess a discrete energy spectrum, and that at room temperature the spacing of these levels is usually larger than the thermal energy kT. Therefore we will reconsider electron-transfer reactions from a quantum-mechanical viewpoint that was first advanced by Levich and Dogonadze [1]. In this course we will rederive several of, the results of Chapter 6, show under which conditions they are valid, and obtain generalizations that account for the quantum nature of the inner-sphere modes. By necessity this chapter contains more mathematics than the others, but the calculations axe not particularly difficult. Readers who are not interested in the mathematical details can turn to the summary presented in Section 6. 

Iron(III)-catalyzed autoxidation of ascorbic acid has received considerably less attention than the comparable reactions with copper species. Anaerobic studies confirmed that Fe(III) can easily oxidize ascorbic acid to dehydroascorbic acid. Xu and Jordan reported two-stage kinetics for this system in the presence of an excess of the metal ion, and suggested the fast formation of iron(III) ascorbate complexes which undergo reversible electron transfer steps (21). However, Bansch and coworkers did not find spectral evidence for the formation of ascorbate complexes in excess ascorbic acid (22). On the basis of a combined pH, temperature and pressure dependence study these authors confirmed that the oxidation by Fe(H20)g+ proceeds via an outer-sphere mechanism, while the reaction with Fe(H20)50H2+ is substitution-controlled and follows an inner-sphere electron transfer path. To some extent, these results may contradict with the model proposed by Taqui Khan and Martell (6), because the oxidation by the metal ion may take place before the ternary oxygen complex is actually formed in Eq. (17). 

Most of the kinetic models predict that the sulfite ion radical is easily oxidized by 02 and/or the oxidized form of the catalyst, but this species was rarely considered as a potential oxidant. In a recent pulse radiolysis study, the oxidation of Ni(II and I) and Cu(II and I) macrocyclic complexes by SO was studied under anaerobic conditions (117). In the reactions with Ni(I) and Cu(I) complexes intermediates could not be detected, and the electron transfer was interpreted in terms of a simple outer-sphere mechanism. In contrast, time resolved spectra confirmed the formation of intermediates with a ligand-radical nature in the reactions of the M(II) ions. The formation of a product with a sulfonated macrocycle and another with an additional double bond in the macrocycle were isolated in the reaction with [NiCR]2+. These results may require the refinement of the kinetic model proposed by Lepentsiotis for the [NiCR]2+ SO/ 02 system (116). 

It has in general been the objective of many mechanistic studies dealing with inorganic electron-transfer reactions to distinguish between outer- and inner-sphere mechanisms. Along these lines high-pressure kinetic methods and the construction of reaction volume profiles have also been employed to contribute toward a better understanding of the intimate mechanisms involved in such processes. The differentiation between outer- and inner-sphere mechanisms depends... 

The fact that total stereospecificity is observed rules out the HHA mechanism. Indeed, the same loss of stereospecificity as in the outer-sphere case should be observed since the reaction goes through the same interconverting radicals in both cases. One is thus left with an EL mechanism in which the elimination of the second bromine as a bromide ion from the carbanion should be concerted with the first step or at least faster than the interconversion of the two carbanions. Estimation of the thermodynamic driving forces for the outer-sphere electron transfer, HAA, and EL mechanisms confirms the advantage of the latter.lb... 

The stage is set in the first chapter, with the depiction of a typical electrochemical experiment and application to the determination of the thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of outer-sphere electron transfer reaction, with no further chemical steps in the reaction mechanism. In this chapter as well as in the others, we describe both the experimental data and the methods by which they can be gathered. 

Electron transfer reactions may follow two types of mechanism (i) outer sphere mechanism and (ii) inner sphere mechanism. 

Similarly, inner-sphere and outer-sphere mechanisms can be postulated for the reductive dissolution of metal oxide surface sites, as shown in Figure 2. Precursor complex formation, electron transfer, and breakdown of the successor complex can still be distinguished. The surface chemical reaction is unique, however, in that participating metal centers are bound within an oxide/hydroxide... 

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