ABSTRACT
Since the late 1940s, the field of electron transfer processes has grown enormously, both in chemistry and biology. The development of the field, experimentally and theoretically, as well as its relationship to the study of other kinds of chemical reactions, represents to us an intriguing history, one in which many threads have been brought together. This chapter describes some history, recent trends and the author's own involvement in this research. The interaction of theory and experiment in many electron transfer fields has been particularly extensive and exciting, and each has stimulated the other. The chapter addresses the underlying theory and this interaction. There is now a widespread interest in synthesizing systems which can mimic the behaviour of nature’s photosynthetic systems, and so offer other routes for the harnessing of solar energy. The current understanding of how nature works has served to provide some guidelines.
