Nonadiabaticity in the photoinduced electron transfer reactions of metal complexes

Abstract

The rate of electron transfer (ET) in a variety of chemical and biological processes is influenced by factors like the free energy change (†G), the donor-acceptor electronic coupling and the medium. The effect of donor-acceptor electronic coupling on the rate of photoinduced intermolecular electron transfer is considered by taking Ru(II) and Cr(III) metal complexes in the excited state as electron acceptors and organic compounds as electron donors. The electronic coupling between the donor and acceptors depends strongly on donor-acceptor distance. The electron transfer distance is varied by introducing alkyl groups of different sizes either on the bipyridine ligand of the metal complex or on the quencher. The semiclassical theory of electron transfer expresses k_ET as the product of a nuclear and an electronic transmission coefficient (K _n andK _el respectively) and an effective nuclear-vibration frequency (v _n),k _ET =v _nK_el, K_n. The electron transfer reaction becomes nonadiabatic if the donor-acceptor distance is long. The change of electron transfer mechanism from adiabatic to nonadiabatic due to the introduction of bulky groups is explained in terms of semiclassical theory and from the temperature-dependence study of photoinduced electron transfer reactions of metal complexes.