Dynamics of activationless reactions in solution

Abstract

Recent picosecond and subpicosecond laser spectroscopy experiments have revealed several chemically and biologically important reactions in solution in which the reaction potential surface does not present a barrier to the motion along the reaction coordinate. The dynamics of these reactions display diverse and interesting behavior. They include the dependence of relaxation rate on the solvent viscosity, the solvent polarity, the temperature, and the wavelength of the exciting light. In this article we review the recent developments in the theoretical description of activationless processes in solution and compare them with the available experimental results.