Marcus inversion in electron transfer reactions between coumarins and aliphatic amines in TX-100 micellar solution

For coumarin–aliphatic amine (AlA) systems, electron transfer (ET) rates in Triton X-100 micelle show Marcus inversion, but at an exergonicity (∼0.5 eV) somewhat lower than that observed earlier for coumarin–aromatic amine (ArA) systems (∼0.7 eV). This is attributed to lower solvent reorganization energy involving AlA’s as the donor than with ArA’s. Present results in conjunction with our earlier results suggest that appearance of Marcus inversion for micellar ET reactions is a general phenomenon and is rationalized on the basis of two-dimensional ET model.