Ab initio calculation for inner reorganization energy of gas-phase electron transfer in organic molecule–ion systems Original Research Article

A series of electron transfer (ET) reactions between some organic molecules have been investigated through ab initio calculations. Biphenyl (Bp) and 9,9′-dimethylfluorene anion radicals are chosen as the donor, whereas several organic molecules with different redox abilities are chosen as the acceptor. The inner reorganization energy and the endothermicity of the ET reactions in those molecule–ion systems have been estimated through the HFSCF and complete active space multiconfiguration SCF calculations. Double-well potentials for the gas-phase ET reactions have been constructed using the linear reaction coordinate, and the results show that the quinone-containing ET reactions are in Marcusʹ inverted region. It has been found that the inner reorganization energies are different for various donor-acceptor couples, unlike the experimentally fitted ones. The contribution from the inter-ring torsional motion in Bp to the inner reorganization energy has been evaluated from the energy difference of the biphenyl-acceptor and the dimethylfluorine-acceptor systems. Comparisons with the experimentally observed results have been made.