On the anisotropic weak magnetic field effect in radical-pair reactions

For more than 60 years, scientists have been fascinated by the fact that magnetic fields even weaker than internal hyperfine fields can markedly affect spin-selective radical-pair reactions. This weak magnetic field effect has been found to arise from the removal of degeneracies in the zerofield spin Hamiltonian. Here, I investigated the anisotropic effect of a weak magnetic field on a model radical pair with an axially symmetric hyperfine interaction. I found that S-T-+/- and T-0-T-+/- interconversions driven by the smaller x and y-components of the hyperfine interaction can be hindered or enhanced by a weak external magnetic field, depending on its direction. Additional isotropically hyperfine-coupled nuclear spins preserve this conclusion, although the S T +/- and T-0. T-+/- transitions become asymmetric. These results are supported by simulating reaction yields of a more biologically plausible, flavin-based radical pair.