Photoinduced electron transfer and back transfer in systems of randomly distributed donors and acceptors: picosecond transient grating experiments

Photoinduced electron tunneling between randomly dispersed donors and acceptors in frozen glasses and other rigid matrices

In fluid solution un-tethered donors and acceptors can diffuse freely, and consequently the donor-acceptor distance is usually not fixed on the timescale of an electron transfer event. When attempting to investigate the influence of driving-force changes or donor-acceptor distance variations on electron transfer rates this can be a problem. In rigid matrices diffusion is suppressed, and it becomes possible to investigate fixed-distance electron transfer. This method represents an attractive alternative to investigate rigid rod-like donor-bridge-acceptor molecules which have to be made in elaborate syntheses. This perspective focuses specifically on the distance dependence of photoinduced electron transfer which occurs via tunneling of charge carriers through rigid matrices over distances between 1 and 33 Å. Some key aspects of the theoretical models commonly used for analyzing kinetic data of electron tunneling through rigid matrices are recapitulated. New findings from this rather mature field of research are emphasized.

Electron Transfer in Frozen Media

Classical theories of electron transfer are modified to take into account the differences between electron transfer in a rigid medium and in a fluid. Intramolecular vibrations and part of the dielectric polarization are assumed to remain dynamic in rigid media while the remaining part of the polarization, arising from dipole reorientations, is frozen. In rigid media, electron transfer occurs with the solvent locked into the dipole orientations of the initial state. This causes an increase in the free energy change and a decrease in the solvent reorganizational energy. It also increases the activation free energy for electron transfer. For photoinduced electron transfer, the analysis is more complex because multiple states are involved. The activation free energy can either be greater or less than in a fluid depending on charge distributions before and after electron transfer. The same analysis can be applied to interconversion between excited states in rigid media.