Specific solvent effects on the electronic coupling element for electron transfer are examined using two model donor-acceptor systems (Zn-2(+) and Li-2(+)) and several model "solvent" species (He, Ne, H2O, and NH3). The effects are evaluated relative to the given donor-acceptor pair without solvent present. The electronic coupling element (H-ab) is found to depend strongly on the identity of the intervening solvent, with He atoms decreasing H-ab, whereas H2O and NH3 significantly increase H-ab. The distance dependence (essentially exponential decay) is weakly affected by a single intervening solvent atom-molecule. However, when the donor-acceptor distance increases in concert with addition of successively greater numbers of solvent species, the decay with distance of H-ab is altered appreciably. Effects due to varying the orientation of molecular solvent are found, somewhat surprisingly, to be quite modest.