Quantum electrochemistry

The scientific school of Quantum Electrochemistry was founded in the 1960s by Revaz Dogonadze and others. Quantum Electrochemistry is a new scientific direction of Theoretical Physical Chemistry on Quantum Mechanical aspects of Electrochemistry. Works of Dogonadze constitute also a considerable part of the new science that lies at the border of Electrochemistry and Physics, i.e., Electrochemical Physics.

Dogonadze was the first to view a chemical electron-transfer process in a similar way, i.e. as a quantum-mechanical transition between two separate electronic states, induced by weak electrostatic interactions between the molecular entities represented by the states (1959-1961). In the 1960s-1970s he managed a group in the Theoretical Department of the Moscow Institute of Electrochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of former Soviet Union (now Russian Academy of Science). Students from the Moscow State University and the Moscow Physics-Engineering Institute, with which Dogonadze had become associated in 1969, increasingly gathered around him, and foreign scientists became attracted to him. Some pupils of Dogonadze are today internationally known scientists. Work of this group through the 1970s dealt with the relation between electron transfer and other condensed phase electronic processes such as light absorption; it dealt with processes involving three rather than two electronic levels, with low-temperature processes and with particular features characteristic of biological processes. These investigations often involved new methods of theoretical physics.

The first quantum-mechanical model of proton transfer in polar solvents taking into account the dynamic role of the polar solvent was suggested by Dogonadze and his pupils in 1967. In the 1970s-1980s was created a well-known Quantum-Mechanical Theory of Kinetics of the Elementary Act of Chemical, Electrochemical and Biochemical Processes in Polar Liquids. The Quantum-Mechanical Theory of Kinetiks of Atomic-Molecular Transformation in Condensed Media was developed by Dogonadze, Kuznetsov, Ulstrup, Zaqaraya and Marsagishvili (1973-1979).

In 1971 Dogonadze, Kirkov, Ulstrup and others founded the International Summer School on Quantum Mechanical Aspects of Electrochemistry (Ohrid, Jugoslavia).

In 1984 Dogonadze was a main organizer of the International Conference "Electrodynamics and Quantum Phenomena at Interfaces" (October 1-6, 1984, Telavi, Georgia).

Authors of important works in the field of Quantum Electrochemistry are also Rudolph A. Marcus (USA), R.P. Bell (United Kingdom), J.O'M. Bockris (USA), N.S. Hush (United Kingdom), Roger Parsons (United Kingdom), Klaus von Klitzing (Germany), Jens Ulstrup (Denmark), Wolfgang Schmickler (Germany), J.W. Schultze (Germany), Pancho Kirkov (Jugoslavia), Peter Schmidt (USA), Joshua Jortner (USA), Sydney G. Davison (Canada), Alexander Kuznetsov (Russia), Lev Krishtalik (Russia), Yuri Chizmadzhev (Russia), V.G. Levich (Russia, USA), Tamaz Marsagishvili (Georgia), Merab Zaqaraya (Georgia), Zurab Urushadze (Georgia) and others.

In 1992 Marcus received Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the Theory of Electron Transfer Reactions in Chemical Systems.

Main centers in Quantum Electrochemistry are: Theoretical Department of the Frumkin Institute of Electrochemistry of the Russian Academy of Science (Moscow), Chemistry Department of the Technical University of Denmark (Lyngby), the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the University of Bonn (Germany), the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the University of Dusseldorf (Germany), the Dogonadze Department of Theoretical Investigations of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (Tbilisi), the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (Lvov), the Quantum Theory Group of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Physics of the University of Waterloo (Canada), etc.

See also

• Quantum mechanics
• Quantum chemistry
• Electrochemistry

References

• V.G. Levich, R.R. Dogonadze, "Theory of Non-radiative Electronic Transitions between Ions in Solution".- Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Fiz. Khim., 124, 1959, pp. 123-126 (in Russian)
• R.R. Dogonadze, Yu.A. Chizmadzhev, "Kinetics of Some Electrochemical Oxidation-Reduction Reactions on Metals".- Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Fiz. Khim., 145, 1962, pp. 849-852 (in Russian)
• R.R. Dogonadze, Z.D. Urushadze, "Semi-classical Method of Calculation of Rates of Chemical Reactions Proceeding in Polar Liquids".- J. Electroanal.Chem., 32, 1971, pp. 235-245
• R.R. Dogonadze, "Theory of Molecular Electrode Kinetics", in: N.S. Hush (Ed.), Reactions of Molecules at Electrodes, Interscience Pub., London, 1971, pp. 135-227
• R.P. Bell, "The Proton in Chemistry", Chapman and Hall, London-New York, 1973
• N.R. Kestner, J. Logan and J. Jortner, "Thermal Electron Transfer Reactions in Polar Solvents".- J.Phys.Chem., 78, 1974, pp. 2148-2166
• R.R. Dogonadze, A.M. Kuznetsov, M.G. Zaqaraya and J. Ulstrup, "A Quantum Theory of Low-Temperature Chemical and Biological Rate Processes", in: B. Chance, R.A. Marcus, D. DeVault, H. Frauenfelder, J.R. Schrieffer and N. Sutin (Eds.), Tunneling in Biological Systems, Academic Press, New York, 1979, pp. 145-171
• R.P. Bell, "The Tunneling Effect in Chemistry", Chapman and Hall, London-New York, 1980
• R.R. Dogonadze and A.M. Kuznetsov, "Quantum Electrochemical Kinetics: Continuum Theory", in: B.E. Conway, J.O'M. Bockris and E. Yeager (Eds.), Comprehensive Treatise of Electrochemistry, Vol. 7, Plenum Press, New York, 1983, pp. 1-40
• "Electrodynamics and Quantum Phenomena at Interfaces" (Proceedings of the International Conference, Telavi, Georgia, October 1-6, 1984), Publishing House "Metsniereba", Tbilisi, 1986, 558 pp. (in English)
• J.O'M. Bockris, Shahed U.M. Khan, "Quantum Electrochemistry", Plenum Press, New York, 1979, 538 pp. (ISBN 0306311437)
• "Standard bearer of Quantum Electrochemistry" ("Flagman Kvantovoy Elektrokhimii"). About Professor Revaz R. Dogonadze. Compiled by Prof. Z.D. Urushadze, Publishing House of the Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, 1991, 140 pp. (In Russian)
• M. Bixon and J. Jortner, "Electron Transfer. From Isolated Molecules to Biomolecules".- Adv. in Chem.Physics, 106, 1999, pp. 35-203
• "Encyclopedia of Electrochemistry", Vol. 2, Interfacial Kinetics and Mass Transport, Wiley Publishers, 2003, 563 pp. (ISBN 3527303944).

External links

• Nobel Lecture of Rudolph A. Marcus, 1992 (http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1992/marcus-lecture.pdf)
• R.R. Dogonadze's Memorial Page (http://www.webhostcorp.com/members/rdogonadze)
• International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) (http://www.ise-online.org)