Js. Cao et al., THE COMPUTATION OF ELECTRON-TRANSFER RATES - THE NONADIABATIC INSTANTON SOLUTION, The Journal of chemical physics, 103(4), 1995, pp. 1391-1399
A computational theory for determining electron transfer rate constant
s is formulated based on an instanton expression for the quantum rate
and the self-consistent solution of the imaginary time nonadiabatic st
eepest descent approximation. The theory obtains the correct asymptoti
c behavior for the electron transfer rate constant in the nonadiabatic
and adiabatic cases, and it smoothly bridges between those two limits
for intermediate couplings. Furthermore, no assumptions regarding the
form of the diabatic potentials are invoked (e.g., harmonic) and more
than two diabatic states can be included in the calculations. The met
hod thereby holds considerable promise for computing electron transfer
rate constants in realistic condensed phase systems. (C) 1995 America
n Institute of Physics.