Charge transfer processes with electronically excited anthracene molecules

Abstract

The rate of the electron transfer reaction between excited anthracene molecules and various electron acceptors in solution was determined by measurement of the photostimulated current through an anthracene electrode. A previous analysis of the photoinjection method was applied to experiments with IrCl2–6/IrCl3–6, Fe3+/Fe2+ and Tl3+/Tl+. For the iridium and the hexaquo iron complexes the magnitude of the polarization energy change in solution is small, so that an excited state for the reduced component is preferred as a product of the electron transfer reaction. A large polarization energy change for the thallium system renders the ground state of the product most accessible for the electrode reaction.