Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.105, No.51, 11407-11413, 2001
Solvent-controlled acceleration of electron transfer in binary mixtures
We report a 5-fold acceleration of the backward intermolecular electron transfer between a rhodamine 800 dye molecule and N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA). This effect results from the controlled variation of the solvent dynamical properties in binary mixtures of DMA and acetonitrile. The observed acceleration reflects the competition between solvent-controlled and nonadiabatic electron transfer in the limit of barrierless reaction. A linear dependence of the electron-transfer time on the longitudinal relaxation time, as predicted by the outer sphere electron-transfer model by Rips and Jortner [Rips, I.; Jortner, J. J. Chem. Phys. 1987, 87, 2090.], is clearly observed.