Solvation electron transfer kinetics

The oxidation or reduction of a substrate suffering from sluggish electron transfer kinetics at the electrode surface is mediated by a redox system that can exchange electrons rapidly with the electrode and the substrate. The situation is clear when the half-wave potential of the mediator is equal to or more positive than that of the substrate (for oxidations, and vice versa for reductions). The mediated reaction path is favored over direct electrochemistry of the substrate at the electrode because, by the diffusion/reaction layer of the redox mediator, the electron transfer step takes place in a three-dimensional reaction zone rather than at the surface Mediation can also occur when the half-wave potential of the mediator is on the thermodynamically less favorable side, in cases where the redox equilibrium between mediator and substrate is disturbed by an irreversible follow-up reaction of the latter. The requirement of sufficiently fast electron transfer reactions of the mediator is usually fulfilled by such revemible redox couples PjQ in which bond and solvate... 

The solvated C02 anion radical has been observed both in the gas phase and in condensed matter (Holroyd et al. 1997) and has been well characterized by ESR spectroscopy (Knight et al. 1996). Being solvated, C02 anion radicals form complexes that yield quasi-free electrons upon photoexcitation. Gas-phase studies (Saeki and others 1999) and ab initio calculations (Tsukuda et al. 1999) indicate that static ion-dipole interactions stabilize the [(C02)n m(R0H)m] type of small clusters. In supercritical carbon dioxide, monomers and dimers of water, acetonitrile, and alcohols also form metastable complexes (Shkrob Sauer 2001a,b). Such complexation should be taken into account in studies of electron-transfer kinetics in reactions with the participation of C02. ... 

Photoinduced ET at liquid-liquid interfaces has been widely recognized as a model system for natural photosynthesis and heterogeneous photocatalysis [114-119]. One of the key aspects of photochemical reactions in these systems is that the efficiency of product separation can be enhanced by differences in solvation energy, diminishing the probability of a back electron-transfer process (see Fig. 11). For instance, Brugger and Gratzel reported that the efficiency of the photoreduction of the amphiphilic methyl viologen by Ru(bpy)3+ is effectively enhanced in the presence of cationic micelles formed by cetyltrimethylammonium chloride [120]. Flash photolysis studies indicated that while the kinetics of the photoinduced reaction,... 

Interfacial electron transfer is the critical process occurring in all electrochemical cells in which molecular species are oxidized or reduced. While transfer of an electron between an electrode and a solvated molecule or ion is conceptually a simple reaction, rates of heterogeneous electron transfer processes depend on a multitude of factors and can vary over many orders of magnitude. Since control of interfacial electron transfer rates is usually essential for successful operation of electrochemical devices, understanding the kinetics of these reactions has been and remains a challenging and technologically important goal. 

In the treatment of the kinetics of the electron transfer illustrated in Section 4.1, it has been assumed that the propulsive force for the electron transfer was the electrochemical potential E i.e. a quantity directly related to 4>M — < >s). However, since the solvated ions cannot enter the inner layer of the double layer (IHP), the true propulsive force should be < )M — standard rate constant, k°, and the exchange current, i0, should become respectively ... 

Until now, the isotopic effect was discnssed only in relation to the reactants. In electron-transfer reactions, the solvent plays an eqnally important role. As mentioned, different solvate forms are possible for reactants, transition states, and products. Therefore, it seems important to find a reaction where the kinetic effect resulting from the introduction of an isotope would be present for solvents, but absent for reactants. For a published work concerning this problem, refer Yusupov and Hairutdinov (1987). In this work, the authors studied photoinduced electron transfer from magnesium ethioporphyrin to chloroform followed by a dark recombination of ion-radicals in frozen alcohol solutions. It was determined that the deuteration of chloroform does not affect the rate of transfer, whereas deuteration of the solvent reduces it. The authors correlate these results with the participation of solvent vibrational modes in the manner of energy diffraction during electron transfer. 

On the other hand, M or M can be selectively generated in radiation chemical reactions of any M in solution via pulse radiolysis (PR) and y-radiolysis (y-R) techniques [1,36-41], which are used in the present study. Pulse radiolysis has been widely used for the kinetic study involving M . Various processes, such as ionization, excitation, electron transfer, solvation, relaxation, decomposition, etc., occur initially in the radiation chemical reaction in solutions. Chemical species generated from the initial processes react with M as a solute molecule to generate effectively and selectively M, M , or M in the triplet... 

Following the reduction of the substrates by a solvated electron, the solvent transfers a proton to the radical anions, 106 and 108 the resulting radicals, 107 and 109, are then reduced again, and the anions, 107 and 109, are proto-nated once more. The regiochemistry of the protonation of 107 is kinetically controlled the ready inversion of the alkenyl free radical 109 is the key to the formation of the frani-alkene. 

This chapter deals with the fundamental aspects of redox reactions in non-aque-ous solutions. In Section 4.1, we discuss solvent effects on the potentials of various types of redox couples and on reaction mechanisms. Solvent effects on redox potentials are important in connection with the electrochemical studies of such basic problems as ion solvation and electronic properties of chemical species. We then consider solvent effects on reaction kinetics, paying attention to the role of dynamical solvent properties in electron transfer processes. In Section 4.2, we deal with the potential windows in various solvents, in order to show the advantages of non-aqueous solvents as media for redox reactions. In Section 4.3, we describe some examples of practical redox titrations in non-aqueous solvents. Because many of the redox reactions are realized as electrode reactions, the subjects covered in this chapter will also appear in Part II in connection with electrochemical measurements. 

The reader is also referred to the innovative nonphotochemical electron transfer studies of Weaver et al. [147], These authors have been exploring dynamical solvent effects on ground state self-exchange kinetics for or-ganometallic compounds. This work has explored many aspects of solvent control on intermediate barrier electron transfer reactions, including the effect on a distribution of solvation times. The experimental C(t) data on various solvents have been incorporated into the theoretical modeling of the ground state electron transfer reactions studied by Weaver et al. [147]. 

Transient Photoconductivity. A solution of neutral molecules in a polar solvent shows only ohmic conductivity, but if ions are formed by the action of the photolytic flash these charge carriers generate an additional current which is proportional to the ion concentration. The observation of such transient photocurrents is the most direct experimental evidence for the formation of free, solvated ions in electron transfer reactions. The quantum yield of ion formation can be obtained through proper calibration procedures and the kinetics of ion recombination can be determined. Figure 7.37 gives an example of such transient photocurrent rise and decay. 

Electron transfer reactions have been characterized with much more rigor in inorganic chemistry than with organic molecules. Marcus has provided the principal description relating the kinetics and thermodynamics of electron transfer between metal complexes (1). The Marcus theory, a computationally simple approach with good predictive power, is an empirical treatment which uses thermodynamic parameters and spectroscopic measurements to calculate kinetic data. It assumes that bimolecular electron transfer reactions occur in three stages as shown in Scheme 1 (1) formation of the precursor complex, (2) electron transfer, and (3) solvation of the redox pair. 

Time profiles of the formation of fullerene radical anions in polar solvents as well as the decay of 3C o obey pseudo first-order kinetics due to high concentrations of the donor molecule [120,125,127,146,159], By changing to nonpolar solvents the rise kinetics of Go changes to second-order as well as the decay kinetics for 3C o [120,125,133,148], The analysis of the decay kinetics of the fullerene radical anions confirm this suggestion as well. In the case of polar solvents, the decay of the radical ion absorptions obey second-order kinetics, while changing to nonpolar solvents the decay obey first-order kinetics [120,125,127,133,147]. This can be explained by radical ion pairs of the C o and the donor radical cation in less polar and nonpolar solvents, which do not dissociate. The back-electron transfer takes place within the ion pair. This is also the reason for the fast back-electron transfer in comparison to the slower back-electron transfer in polar solvents, where the radical ions are solvated as free ions or solvent-separated ion pairs [120,125,147]. However, back-electron transfer is suppressed when using mixtures of fullerene and borates as donors in o-dichlorobenzene (less polar solvent), since the borate radicals immediately dissociate into Ph3B and Bu /Ph" [Eq. (2)][156],... 

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