Transition electron self-exchange

If reactants and products are isometric, the reaction is symmetric and the reaction energy is zero. In this simple case, the transition state is symmetric and so is the reaction profile [40]. A well known example is electron self-exchange [41], which can occur whenever a chemical species exists in two or more oxidation states. Hexacoor-dinate metal complexes in oxidation states 2+ and 3+ provide an example (Figure 5.11). Initially, the metal-ligand distance di in MLg is long and the corresponding force constant fi is relatively low, whereas the distance d in is... 

Table 2.2. Electron Self-Exchange Reactions of Transition Metal Complex Couples at 25 °C ... 

The electron self-exchange in iron porphyrins follows a pattern close to the one of iron-tiisphenanthroline or bipyiidine complexes. The self-exchange in cytochrome c has a higher AG in part due to the nature of the Fe-S bond in the transition state, but its distance dependence is similar to that observed in other proteins. The free-energy relationships observed in porphyrin-cytochrome c systems depend on the nature of the reactant electronic state and, relative to the reactants, may exhibit a more relaxed transition state than the reactions that occur in soludoa... 

In the latter example and others involving polypyrrole films electroformed from a complex between a transition metal (Ru(II)) and a bi- or terpyridine-substituted pyrrole [201, 202], the electron self-exchange was ensured by either the viologen or Ru(II) units and not by the polymer. As a matter of fact, the PPy matrix was undoped when poly(3) was used for electrocatalytic reduction experiments or overoxidized when the films containing ruthenium(II)-based complexes were involved in oxidation experiments [201, 202]. 

Rate constants of electron self-exchange reactions in transition-metal complexes, measured in water at room temperature ... 

Figure 16.2 Comparison between electron self-exchange rates of transition-metal complexes calculated by TM-1 and experimental data, in aqueous solutions at room temperature (from ref. [1]).

The simplest electron transfer reactions are outer sphere. The Franck-Condon principle states that during an electronic transition, electronic motion is so rapid that the metal nuclei, the metal ligands, and solvent molecules do not have time to move. In a self-exchange example,... 

The NO/NO+ and NO/NO- self-exchange rates are quite slow (42). Therefore, the kinetics of nitric oxide electron transfer reactions are strongly affected by transition metal complexes, particularly by those that are labile and redox active which can serve to promote these reactions. Although iron is the most important metal target for nitric oxide in mammalian biology, other metal centers might also react with NO. For example, both cobalt (in the form of cobalamin) (43,44) and copper (in the form of different types of copper proteins) (45) have been identified as potential NO targets. In addition, a substantial fraction of the bacterial nitrite reductases (which catalyze reduction of NO2 to NO) are copper enzymes (46). The interactions of NO with such metal centers continue to be rich for further exploration. 

In the following sections the effect of pressure on different types of electron-transfer processes is discussed systematically. Some of our work in this area was reviewed as part of a special symposium devoted to the complementarity of various experimental techniques in the study of electron-transfer reactions (124). Swaddle and Tregloan recently reviewed electrode reactions of metal complexes in solution at high pressure (125). The main emphasis in this section is on some of the most recent work that we have been involved in, dealing with long-distance electron-transfer processes involving cytochrome c. However, by way of introduction, a short discussion on the effect of pressure on self-exchange (symmetrical) and nonsymmetrical electron-transfer reactions between transition metal complexes that have been reported in the literature, is presented. 

The qualitative elements of Marcus theory are readily demonstrated. For example, the process of transferring an electron between two metal ions, Fe2+ and Fe3 +, may be described schematically by Fig. 33 (Eberson, 1982 Albery and Kreevoy, 1978). The reaction may be separated into three discrete stages. In the first stage the solvation shell of both ions distorts so that the energy of the reacting species before electron transfer will be identical to that after electron transfer. For the self-exchange process this of course means that the solvation shell about Fe2+ and Fe3+ in the transition state must be the same if electron transfer is not to affect the energy of the system. In the second phase, at the transition state, the electron is transferred without... 

An important feature to emerge from the comparisons in Table 2 is that variations in the electronic coupling term play a relatively small role in dictating the magnitudes of self-exchange rate constants for outer-sphere reactions, at least for transition metal complexes. Even for reactions... 

By leaving all other terms constant one cannot expect accurate predictions of the self-exchange rates. However, the surprisingly good results (Table 10.2) indicate that the relative strain in the ground and transition states of the encounter complex is an important driving force for the electron transfer reactivity. 

It was recently shown (Ratner and Levine, 1980) that the Marcus cross-relation (62) can be derived rigorously for the case that / = 1 by a thermodynamic treatment without postulating any microscopic model of the activation process. The only assumptions made were (1) the activation process for each species is independent of its reaction partner, and (2) the activated states of the participating species (A, [A-], B and [B ]+) are the same for the self-exchange reactions and for the cross reaction. Note that the following assumptions need not be made (3) applicability of the Franck-Condon principle, (4) validity of the transition-state theory, (5) parabolic potential energy curves, (6) solvent as a dielectric continuum and (7) electron transfer is... 

Figure 1. Potential energy as a function of reaction coordinate for a self-exchange reaction. AE, energy barrier for thermal electron transfer (weak coupling) AE2, energy of an intervalence transition which is possible for the system.

---