title: Measurement of both the equilibrium constant and rate constant for electronic energy transfer by control of the limiting kinetic regimes.
abstract: Electronic energy transfer can fall into two limiting cases. When the rate of the energy transfer back reaction is much faster than relaxation of the acceptor excited state, equilibrium between the donor and acceptor excited states is achieved and only the equilibrium constant for the energy transfer can be measured. When the rate of the back reaction is much slower than relaxation of the acceptor, the energy transfer is irreversible and only the forward rate constant can be measured. Herein, we demonstrate that with trans-[Cr(d(4)-cyclam)(CN)(2)](+) as the donor and either trans-[Cr([15]ane-ane-N(4))(CN)(2)](+) or trans-[Cr(cyclam)(CN)(2)](+) as the acceptor, both limits can be obtained by control of the donor concentration. The equilibrium constant and rate constant for the case in which trans-[Cr([15]ane-ane-N(4))(CN)(2)](+) is the acceptor are 0.66 and 1.7 x 10(7) M(-1) s(-1), respectively. The equilibrium constant is in good agreement with the value of 0.60 determined using the excited state energy gap between the donor and acceptor species. For the thermoneutral case in which trans-[Cr(cyclam)(CN)(2)](+) is the acceptor, an experimental equilibrium constant of 0.99 was reported previously, and the rate constant has now been measured as 4.0 x 10(7) M(-1) s(-1).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina 29613, USA.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Vagnini
authors.forename: W Caleb
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Rutledge
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Wagenknecht