Probing the electronic structure of redox species and direct determination of intrinsic reorganization energies of electron transfer reactions

An experimental technique capable of directly determining the intrinsic reorganization energies of bimolecular electron transfer reactions is described. Appropriate solution phase redox species are prepared in the gas phase using electrospray ionization and probed using photodetachment spectroscopy. Five metal complex anions involved in the Fe2+-Fe3+ redox couple are investigated and the intramolecular reorganization energies are measured directly from spectral features due to removing the most loosely bound 3d electron from the Fe(II)-complexes. The photodetachment spectra also yield electronic structure information about the Fe2+-Fe3+ redox couple and provide a common electronic structure origin for the reducing capability of the Fe(II)-complexes, the most common redox reagents. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021- 9606(00)01216-2].