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Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Bimolecular Electron Transfer: Testing the Coulomb Term in the Weller Equation

Publication date2020
Abstract

Reliable estimation of the driving force for photoinduced electron transfer between neutral reactants is of utmost importance for most practical applications of these reactions. The driving force is usually calculated from the Weller equation, which contains a Coulomb term, C, whose magnitude in polar solvents is debated. We have performed umbrella sampling molecular dynamics simulations to determine C from the potentials of mean force between neutral and ionic donor/acceptor pairs of different sizes in solvents of varying polarity. According to the simulations, C in polar solvents is a factor of 2 more negative than typically calculated according to the Weller equation. Use of the π-stack contact distance in the Weller equation instead of the van der Waals radius recovers the correct value of C, but this is mostly fortuitous due to the compensating effects of overestimating the dielectric screening at contact and neglecting both charge dilution and desolvation.

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Citation (ISO format)
RUMBLE, Christopher Allen, LICARI, Giuseppe Léonardo, VAUTHEY, Eric. Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Bimolecular Electron Transfer: Testing the Coulomb Term in the Weller Equation. In: Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical, 2020, vol. 124, n° 44, p. 9945–9950. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.0c09031
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Article (Accepted version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
Journal ISSN1520-6106
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Creation07/11/2020 12:50:00
First validation07/11/2020 12:50:00
Update time16/03/2023 00:00:44
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