When described by a one-dimensional reaction coordinate, pair-reaction rates in a solvent depend, in addition to the potential barrier height and the friction coefficient, on the potential shape, the effective mass, and the friction relaxation spectrum, but a rate theory that accurately accounts for all of these effects does not exist. After a review of classical reaction-rate theories, we show how to extract all parameters of the generalized Langevin equation (GLE) and, in particular, the friction memory function from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of two prototypical pair reactions in water, the dissociation of NaCl and of two methane molecules. The memory exhibits multiple time scales and, for NaCl, pronounced oscillatory components. Simulations of the GLE by Markovian embedding techniques accurately reproduce the pair-reaction kinetics from MD simulations without any fitting parameters, which confirms the accuracy of the approximative form of the GLE and of the parameter extraction techniques. By modification of the GLE parameters, we investigate the relative importance of memory, mass, and potential shape effects. Neglect of memory slows down NaCl and methane dissociation by roughly a factor of 2; neglect of mass accelerates reactions by a similar factor, and the harmonic approximation of the potential shape gives rise to slight acceleration. This partial error cancellation explains why Kramers’ theory, which neglects memory effects and treats the potential shape in harmonic approximation, describes reaction rates better than more sophisticated theories. In essence, all three effects, friction memory, inertia, and the potential shape nonharmonicity, are important to quantitatively describe pair-reaction kinetics in water.
