Theoretical considerations of electron-transfer reactions

Abstract

Chemical and electrochemical reactions in condensed phases are generally quite complex processes, but outer-sphere electron-transfer reactions are sufficiently simple that we have reached a fair understanding of them in terms of microscopic concepts. In this chapter we give a simple derivation of a semiclassical theory of outer-sphere electron-transfer reactions, which was first systematically developed by Marcus [1] and Hush [2] in a series of papers. Several of the concepts that we develop here play also a role in electrocatalysis.