Nonequilibrium Solvation and the Quantum Kramers Problem: Proton Transfer in Aqueous Glycine

We study the intramolecular proton transfer in the amino acid glycine in aqueous solution. We show that this system is an example of nonequilibrium solvation, where the proton-transfer step is fast and the solvent relaxes afterward. We show how the physical picture of equilibrium vs nonequilibrium solvation arises naturally within the framework of the quantized Zwanzig Hamiltonian.