Theory of reversible diffusion-influenced reactions

Abstract

A unified theory of reversible diffusion-influenced geminate and pseudo- first-order reactions is developed. Explicit results are presented for the time dependence of the fraction of molecules that are dissociated at time t for a variety of initial conditions. To introduce the basic ideas of our approach, an elementary and rather complete treatment of the irreversible reaction between a pair of interacting, spherically symmetric particles is presented. The focus is on deriving relations among survival probabilities and bimolecular time-dependent rate coefficients for the radiation and absorbing boundary conditions and the asymptotic behavior of these quantities. These relations are then generalized to reversible geminate reactions. For example, it is shown that the separation probability for an initially bound pair satisfies a simple convolution relation involving the survival probability of an irreversibly reacting geminate pair initially at contact. An analytic expression is obtained for this separation probability that is exact for free diffusion and is an accurate approximation for interacting particles. Finally, the Smoluchowski approach to irreversible pseudo-first-order reactions is extended to reversible reactions. The analysis is based on the generalization of the convolution relations that are rigorously valid for isolated pairs.