A study of photo-induced electron-transfer reactions in MeCN with 9,10-dicyanoanthracene as acceptor and 21 electron donors with transient photoconductivity measurements is reported. The free-ion yield and the rate constant of back electron transfer are determined. For exergonic reactions, the Marcus-inverted region is observed. The fit with the theory is best, when a nearly solvent-independent Coulomb term is used in the calculation of the energy balance.

Photoinduced electron transfer reactions in acetonitrile with bensopheneone, anthraquinone, 9-cyanoanthracene and 9,10-dicyanoanthracene as electron acceptors, and with 1,4-diasabicyclo[2,2,2]octane and N,N-dimethylaniline as electron donors have been studied with ns-laser flash photolysis and fluorescence quenching measurements. For these systems the resulting free ion yield depends on the spin state of the geminate ion pair: its separation is very efficient if formed in a triplet state (carbonyl compounds/donors), while it is very inefficient if formed in a singlet state (cyanoanthracenes/donors). In the triplet systems, geminate back electron transfer is limited by the rate of spin flip.