Electron transfer reactions in chemistry. Theory and experiment

Since the late 1940s, the field of electron transfer processes has grown enormously, both in chemistry and biology. The development of the field, experimentally and theoretically, as well as its relation to the study of other kinds of chemical reactions, represents to us an intriguing history, one in which many threads have been brought together. In this lecture, some history, recent trends, and my own involvement in this research are described. The early experiments in the electron transfer field were on "isotopic exchange reactions" (self-exchange reactions) and, later, "cross reactions. " These experiments rejected two principal inAuences. One of these was the availability after the Second World War of many radioactive isotopes, which permitted the study of a large number of isotopic exchange electron transfer reactions, such as