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Radical pair mechanism in magnetobiology: state of the art

V. N. Binhi

Federal Medical-Biological Agency, Federal Scientific and Clinical Center for Space Medicine and Biology, Moscow

Abstract: We discuss the biological effects of weak magnetic fields, a problem that has gone unresolved for nearly half a century. We consider the spin–chemical mechanism of radical pairs, which is prevalent in the literature aiming to explain the observed phenomena. The effectiveness of this mechanism is limited by spin relaxation. The relaxation rate is estimated for a radical in a protein via the Zeeman, hyperfine, spin–orbit, and exchange interactions. Taking the relaxation and chemical kinetics into account, we present an analytic solution of the Liouville–von Neumann equation for two electrons and a nucleus, which relates the magnitude of the effects to the relaxation rate. Various aspects of the solution are discussed: the influence of the radiofrequency and hypomagnetic fields, the role of quantum entanglement, theoretical challenges and prospects, and others.

Keywords: magnetic biological effects, animal magnetic navigation, spin decoherence, spin relaxation, spin chemistry, radical pair mechanism, Liouville–von Neumann equation, open quantum system, chemical compass, hypomagnetic fields

PACS: 82.39.-k, 87.10.-е, 87.50.-a, 87.50.C-

Received: October 5, 2024
Revised: September 15, 2025
Accepted: September 17, 2025

DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2025.09.040032

 English version: Physics–Uspekhi, 2025, 68:12, 1242–1267