EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL ESTIMATIONS OF THE SOLVENT INDEPENDENCE OF THE ELECTRONIC COUPLING MATRIX ELEMENT FOR AN ORGANIC HOMOGENEOUS ELECTRON SELF-EXCHANGE REACTION

The solvent dependence of the electronic coupling matrix element V wit hin electron transfer theory has been investigated for the homogeneous electron self-exchange reaction of the 1,4-diaminobenzene/1,4-diamino benzene radical cation couple. Experimental results from both ESR line broadening effects and semi-empirical MO calculations within the fram ework of self-consistent reaction field theory show that V is solvent- independent.