Reversible Excited-State Proton Transfer: Effect of the Switching of Interaction Potential by Reaction

In the reaction A + B →<- C, where A and B are ionic reactants having opposite charges, a B molecule approaching an A will experience a switching of the interaction potential when the A molecule is captured by one of the other B molecules in the medium. In the reversible case, the former B molecule still has a chance to react with the A, so that one needs to take into account the switched interaction between the reactant B and the product C as well as that between the reactants to treat the kinetics accurately. It is shown that this kind of interaction potential switching affects the relaxation kinetics in an intriguing way as observed in a recent experiment on an excited-state proton transfer reaction