Photoinduced electron transfer of the model system composed of vitamin E and duroquinone has been investigated using time-dependent density functional theory. Calculations for the excited states tell that the photoexcitation of the model system can directly yield the charge transfer states in which the vitamin E moiety is positively charged but the duroquinone moiety is negatively charged. Our theoretical investigations indicate that the second charge transfer state of the model system can also be produced through the decay of higher locally excited state S-4. Since S-4 state in the model system corresponds to S-1 state of the isolated duroquinone used as a model for peroxyl radical, and S-2 state has the character of electron transfer from the tertiary amine group of the vitamin E moiety to the duroquinone moiety, the decay from S-4 to S-2 corresponds to the dynamic process following the photoexcitation of the duroquinone moiety of the model system, i.e., the initial stage of antioxidant reaction of vitamin E. Calculations of the kinetic parameters for the electron transfer have been carried out in the framework of the Marcus-Jortner-Levich formalism. Our calculations confirm that the electron transfer from S-4 to S-2 possesses the character of the inverted regime and the barrier is negligibly small. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.