Modeling of recombination kinetics of radical pairs in magnetic field. Comparison with experimental dependences on the frequency of encounters in biradicals

The recombination kinetics of spin-correlated radical pairs (RPs) with three nonequivalent magnetic nuclei were calculated under conditions of enforced encounters between radicals at time-independent frequency n_dif. The simplest two-position model of a RP was used, which includes two states (contact state and distance-separated state) of the RP, differing in magnitude of isotropic spin-spin exchange interaction between radicals. The calculated kinetic curves were treated in terms of a three-exponential model. The dependences of corresponding rate constants (k _rec) on n_dif, external magnetic field strength (B ₀), and intensity, A _eff, of isotropic hyperfine coupling (HFC) were obtained. The k _rec-vs.-n_dif or k _rec-vs.-viscosity (n_dif varies simultaneously with the inverse lifetime of the contact state) plots pass through maxima whose positions are shifted from the n_dif region near the A _eff value at B ₀ = 0.5 G toward high n_dif values with an increase in B ₀. At n_dif ≫ A _eff, the k _rec-vs.-B ₀ plots pass through maxima in the region B ₀ = A _eff. The calculated dependences are compared with experimental data on recombination of biradicals. The results of calculations show that the experimentally observed maxima on the k _rec-vs.-B ₀ or k _rec-vs.-n_dif plots can be due to peculiar features of the spin dynamics induced by the hyperfine coupling rather than the exchange interaction effects, as is commonly accepted. __________ Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1103–1110, May, 2005.