Application of high pressure kinetic techniques to mechanistic studies in coordination chemistry

Water exchange in lanthanide complexes for MRI applications. Lessons learned over the last 25 years

Coordination chemistry offers convenient strategies to modulate the exchange of coordinated water molecules in lanthanide-based contrast agents.

High pressure: a complementary tool for probing solid-state processes

High pressure offers insight into the mechanisms of a wide range of solid-state phenomena occurring under atmospheric pressure conditions.

Effect of pressure on electron transfer reactions in inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry

Kinetic and thermodynamic studies involving the application of different high-pressure techniques, are very useful in gaining mechanistic information on the basis of volume changes that occur during inorganic and bioinorganic electron transfer reactions. The most fundamental type of electron transfer reaction concerns self-exchange reactions, for which the overall reaction volume is zero, and activation volumes can be measured and discussed. In the case of non-symmetrical electron transfer reactions, intra- and intermolecular processes can be studied and volume profiles can be constructed. Precursor complex formation can in some cases be recognized kinetically in such systems. Typical values of activation and reaction volumes are reviewed for various reversible and irreversible electron transfer reactions. Mechanistic conclusions reached on the basis of these parameters are presented. Volume profiles for electron transfer reactions enable a simplistic presentation of the reaction mechanism on the basis of intrinsic and solvational volume changes along the reaction coordinate.

Reflections on the outer-sphere mechanism of electron transfer

The quantitative efficacy of the Stranks–Marcus–Hush theory of volumes of activation ΔV‡ for outer-sphere electron transfer between metal complexes in solution is assessed. The theory predicts ΔV‡ accurately for several couples in aqueous solution, but is satisfactory for polar nonaqueous solvents only at pressures of ca. 100 MPa and above, and accuracy is not improved when the molecular nature of the solvent is allowed for through the Mean Spherical Approximation approach. At low pressures, the calculations become numerically unstable when the isothermal compressibility of the solvent is high and its relative permittivity is low, particularly for the more highly charged couples. For aqueous systems, departures from the predicted ΔV‡ afford insights into the role of the counterions, the incursion of inner-sphere pathways, the enhanced reactivity of CoIII/II cage complexes relative to conventional chelates, and the question of "spin forbiddenness" of electron transfer processes that involve a large change in spin multiplicity. Key words: redox kinetics, inorganic reaction mechanisms, pressure effects, Marcus–Hush theory, activation volumes.