Quantum Measurement Theory Explains the Deuteration Effect in Radical-Ion-Pair Reactions
Abstract
It has been recently shown that radical-ion pairs and their reactions are a paradigm biological system manifesting non-trivial quantum effects, so far invisible due to the phenomenological description of radical-ion-pair reactions used until now. We here use the quantum-mechanically consistent master equation describing magnetic-sensitive radical-ion-pair reactions to explain experimental data [C. R. Timmel and K. B. Henbest, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A {\bf 362}, 2573 (2004); C. T. Rodgers, S. A. Norman, K. B. Henbest, C. R. Timmel and P. J. Hore, J. Am. Chem. Soc. {\bf 129} 6746 (2007)] on the effect of deuteration on the reaction yields. Anomalous behavior of radical-ion-pair reactions after deuteration, i.e. data inconsistent with the predictions of the phenomenological theory used so far, has been observed since the 70's and has remained unexplained until now.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0906.5254,
title = {Quantum Measurement Theory Explains the Deuteration Effect in Radical-Ion-Pair Reactions},
author = {A. T. Dellis and I. K. Kominis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0906.5254},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures