Reverse electron transfer

To study the role of ion pairs, it is necessary to investigate electron-transfer reversibility in a solution and compare the results obtained with redox potentials of a donor and an acceptor. As a rule, ion-pairing phenomena define electrode processes too (Baizer and Lund 1983). However, the known equations for equilibrium calculations cannot take ion pairing into consideration because the equations do not contain ion-pair terms. One has to rely on experiments, which are able to take into account the equilibrium of electron transfer in solutions. 

Sulfoxide Reduction Sulfoxide reduction is a two-electron-transfer reversible reaction resulting in thioethers. Organic sulfoxides are used mainly as agrochemicals, and their reduction (abiotic and microbially mediated) has been found in anaerobic soils, sediments, and groundwater (Larson and Weber 1994). 

The simplest situation is when the electron transfer is totally irreversible or when the rate of the electrochemical step is much larger than the rate of chemical reaction. For such situations a reverse peak is not observed. If a postelectron-transfer process destroys the product before the reverse scan occurs, the ratio of the cathodic peak current to the anodic peak current will be greater than unity. At low scan rates an anodic peak may not be observed, but becomes detectable after an increase in the scan rate. Relations have been developed to evaluate the rate constants for post-electron-transfer reversible chemical reactions [Eq. (3.36)] ... 

Charge shift A process in which under the influence of a suitable driving force (e.g. provided by photoexcitation) electronic charge moves without changing the difference in local charges between donor and acceptor sites. Electron transfer reversing the charges in a system composed of a neutral donor and a cationic acceptor or of a neutral acceptor and an anionic donor provide prominent examples. 

Intervalence charge transfer Electron transfer (thermal or photoinduced) between two metal sites differing only in oxidation state. Quite often such electron transfer reverses the oxidation states of the sites. The term is frequently extended to the case of metal-to-metal charge transfer between non-equivalent metal centers. 

Reversible processes are those that attain thermodynamic equilibrium at every instant of the drop life owing to rapid electron transfer. Reversible processes give rise to well-defined d.c. polarograms, and diffusion control is always the determining factor. Irreversible processes are so slow that equilibrium is not attained during the drop lifetime, and d.c. polarograms dependent on such processes often show poor... 

The hemoproteins are involved in electron transfer, reversible peroxidation, and oxygen and CO2 transport and exchange. The electronic configuration of the central ion is expected to change with the function of the hemoprotein. 

Back electron transfer Reverse reaction process of electron transfer. Original ground state is formed. 

Cyclic voltammetry provides a simple method for investigating the reversibility of an electrode reaction (table Bl.28.1). The reversibility of a reaction closely depends upon the rate of electron transfer being sufficiently high to maintain the surface concentrations close to those demanded by the electrode potential through the Nemst equation. Therefore, when the scan rate is increased, a reversible reaction may be transfomied to an irreversible one if the rate of electron transfer is slow. For a reversible reaction at a planar electrode, the peak current density, fp, is given by... 

As tire reaction leading to tire complex involves electron transfer it is clear that tire activation energy AG" for complex fonnation can be lowered or raised by an applied potential (A). Of course, botlr tire forward (oxidation) and well as tire reverse (reduction) reaction are influenced by A4>. If one expresses tire reaction rate as a current flow (/ ), tire above equation C2.8.11 can be expressed in tenns of tire Butler-Volmer equation (for a more detailed... 

Influence of the Kinetics of Electron Transfer on the Faradaic Current The rate of mass transport is one factor influencing the current in a voltammetric experiment. The ease with which electrons are transferred between the electrode and the reactants and products in solution also affects the current. When electron transfer kinetics are fast, the redox reaction is at equilibrium, and the concentrations of reactants and products at the electrode are those specified by the Nernst equation. Such systems are considered electrochemically reversible. In other systems, when electron transfer kinetics are sufficiently slow, the concentration of reactants and products at the electrode surface, and thus the current, differ from that predicted by the Nernst equation. In this case the system is electrochemically irreversible. 

In the previous section we saw how voltammetry can be used to determine the concentration of an analyte. Voltammetry also can be used to obtain additional information, including verifying electrochemical reversibility, determining the number of electrons transferred in a redox reaction, and determining equilibrium constants for coupled chemical reactions. Our discussion of these applications is limited to the use of voltammetric techniques that give limiting currents, although other voltammetric techniques also can be used to obtain the same information. 

The PSII complex contains two distinct plastoquiaones that act ia series. The first is the mentioned above the second, Qg, is reversibly associated with a 30—34 kDa polypeptide ia the PSII cote. This secondary quiaone acceptor polypeptide is the most rapidly tumed-over proteia ia thylakoid membranes (41,46). It serves as a two-electron gate and connects the single-electron transfer events of the reaction center with the pool of free... 

Sodium naphthalene [25398-08-7J and other aromatic radical anions react with monomers such as styrene by reversible electron transfer to form the corresponding monomer radical anions. Although the equihbtium (eq. 10)... 

Iron Sulfur Compounds. Many molecular compounds (18—20) are known in which iron is tetrahedraHy coordinated by a combination of thiolate and sulfide donors. Of the 10 or more stmcturaHy characterized classes of Fe—S compounds, the four shown in Figure 1 are known to occur in proteins. The mononuclear iron site REPLACE occurs in the one-iron bacterial electron-transfer protein mbredoxin. The [2Fe—2S] (10) and [4Fe—4S] (12) cubane stmctures are found in the 2-, 4-, and 8-iron ferredoxins, which are also electron-transfer proteins. The [3Fe—4S] voided cubane stmcture (11) has been found in some ferredoxins and in the inactive form of aconitase, the enzyme which catalyzes the stereospecific hydration—rehydration of citrate to isocitrate in the Krebs cycle. In addition, enzymes are known that contain either other types of iron sulfur clusters or iron sulfur clusters that include other metals. Examples include nitrogenase, which reduces N2 to NH at a MoFe Sg homocitrate cluster carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, which assembles acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) at a FeNiS site and hydrogenases, which catalyze the reversible reduction of protons to hydrogen gas. 

Rapid e / h recombination, the reverse of equation 3, necessitates that D andM be pre-adsorbed prior to light excitation of the Ti02 photocatalyst. In the case of a hydrated and hydroxylated Ti02 anatase surface, hole trapping by interfacial electron transfer occurs via equation 6 to give surface-bound OH radicals (43,44). The necessity for pre-adsorbed D andM for efficient charge carrier trapping calls attention to the importance of adsorption—desorption equihbria in... 

Photochromism Based on Redox Reactions. Although the exact mechanism of the reversible electron transfer is often not defined, several viologen salts (pyridinium ions) exhibit a photochromic response to uv radiation in the crystalline state or in a polar polymeric matrix, for example,... 

More recent research provides reversible oxidation-reduction potential data (17). These allow the derivation of better stmcture-activity relationships in both photographic sensitization and other systems where electron-transfer sensitizers are important (see Dyes, sensitizing). Data for an extensive series of cyanine dyes are pubflshed, as obtained by second harmonic a-c voltammetry (17). A recent "quantitative stmcture-activity relationship" (QSAR) (34) shows that Brooker deviations for the heterocycHc nuclei (discussed above) can provide estimates of the oxidation potentials within 0.05 V. An oxidation potential plus a dye s absorption energy provide reduction potential estimates. Different regression equations were used for dyes with one-, three-, five-methine carbons in the chromophore. Also noted in Ref. 34 are previous correlations relating Brooker deviations for many heterocycHc nuclei to the piC (for protonation/decolorization) for carbocyanine dyes the piC is thus inversely related to oxidation potential values. 

Most adsorption processes are exothermic (AH is negative). Adsorption processes involving nonspecific interactions are referred to as physical adsorption, a relatively weak, reversible interaction. Processes with stronger interactions (electron transfer) are termed chemisorption. Chemisorption is often irreversible and has higher heat of adsorption than physical adsorption. Most dispersants function by chemisorption, in contrast to surfactants, which... 

The mitochondrial complex that carries out ATP synthesis is called ATP synthase or sometimes FjFo-ATPase (for the reverse reaction it catalyzes). ATP synthase was observed in early electron micrographs of submitochondrial particles (prepared by sonication of inner membrane preparations) as round, 8.5-nm-diameter projections or particles on the inner membrane (Figure 21.23). In micrographs of native mitochondria, the projections appear on the matrixfacing surface of the inner membrane. Mild agitation removes the particles from isolated membrane preparations, and the isolated spherical particles catalyze ATP hydrolysis, the reverse reaction of the ATP synthase. Stripped of these particles, the membranes can still carry out electron transfer but cannot synthesize ATP. In one of the first reconstitution experiments with membrane proteins, Efraim Racker showed that adding the particles back to stripped membranes restored electron transfer-dependent ATP synthesis. 

Let us discuss now the conditions required for the electron transfer process. This reaction requires, of course, a suitable electron donor (a species characterized by a low ionization potential) and a proper electron acceptor, e.g., a monomer characterized by a high electron affinity. Furthermore, the nature of the solvent is often critical for such a reaction. The solvation energy of ions contributes substantially to the heat of reaction, hence the reaction might occur in a strong solvating solvent, but its course may be reversed in a poorly solvating medium. A good example of this behavior is provided by the reaction Na -f- naphthalene -> Na+ + naphthalene". This reaction proceeds rapidly in tetrahydrofuran or in dimethoxy... 

The red solution of polystyryl carbanions can be kept for days without change in color or viscosity. No changes are observed on addition of further amounts of naphthalene to the red solution. These observations raise some questions. An electron transfer, say for example, between naphthalene" and phenathrene, is a reversible process and it leads eventually to an equilibrium between naphthalene , naphthalene, phenathrene-, and phenanthrene. Is the reaction involving styrene irreversible Now, the initial process of electron transfer from naphthalene to styrene that produces... 

FIGURE 2-6 Cyclic voltammograms for a reversible electron transfer followed by an irreversible step for various ratios of chemical rate constant to scan rate, k/a, where a = nFv/RT. (Reproduced with permission from reference 1.)... 

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