Solvatochromic and Ligand Effects in Ultrafast Intramolecular Electron Transfer in Fe-based Molecular Photosensitizers

Metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) excited state lifetimes of [Fe(CN)4(2,2’-bipyridine)]2- and [Fe(CN)4(2,3-bis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine)]2-exhibit strong solvent and ligand dependence. We conclude that these effects can be described with Marcus-like model where changes in the MLCT energy correspond directly to the changes in the electron transfer driving force and all the other factors (e.g. reorganization energy) can be considered constant.