The theory of electron transfer reactions in solvents with two characteristic relaxation times

Abstract

The theory of electron transfer reactions in polar solvents with two characteristic relaxation times of the polarization of the medium is developed. The theory is beyond the framework of the traditional non-adiabatic approximation of the electron transfer. It is shown that in some limiting cases the rate of the reaction is limited by the shorter relaxation time of the solvent rather than by the longer one. New expressions for the rate constants of the reaction are obtained for these limiting cases.