A study of the hydrogen abstraction reactions of C2H radical with CH3CN, C2H5CN, and C3H7CN by dual-level generalized transition state theory

The hydrogen abstraction reactions C2H + CH3CN --> products (R1), C2H + CH3CH2CN --> products (R2), and C2H + CH3CH2CH2CN --> products (R3) have been investigated by dual-level generalized transition state theory. Optimized geometries and frequencies of all the stationary points and extra points along the minimum-energy path (MEP) are performed at the BH&H-LYP and MP2 methods with the 6-311G(d, p) basis set, and the energy profiles are further refined at the MC-QCISD level of theory. The rate constants are evaluated using canonical variational transition state theory (CVT) with a small-curvature tunneling correction (SCT) over a wide temperature range 104-2000 K. The calculated CVT/SCT rate constants are in good agreement with the available experimental values. Our calculations show that for reaction R2, the alpha-hydrogen abstraction channel and beta-hydrogen abstraction channel are competitive over the whole temperature range. For reaction R3, the gamma-hydrogen abstraction channel is preferred at lower temperatures, while the contribution of beta-hydrogen abstraction will become more significant with a temperature increase. The branching ratio to the alpha-hydrogen abstraction channel is found negligible over the whole temperature range.     

Ab initio direct dynamics studies on the reaction of H atom with CH3CH2Cl

The multiple channel reaction H + CH(3)CH(2)Cl --> products has been studied by the ab initio direct dynamics method. The potential energy surface information is calculated at the MP2/6-311G(d,p) level of theory. The energies along the minimum energy path are further improved by single-point energy calculations at the PMP4(SDTQ)/6-311+G(3df,2p) level of theory. For the reaction, four reaction channels (one chlorine abstraction, one alpha-hydrogen abstraction, and two beta-hydrogen abstractions) have been identified. The rate constants for each reaction channel are calculated by using canonical variational transition state theory incorporating the small-curvature tunneling correction in the temperature range 298-5000 K. The total rate constants, which are calculated from the sum of the individual rate constants, are in good agreement with the experimental data. The calculated temperature dependence of the branching fractions indicates that for the title reaction, H-abstraction reaction is the major reaction channel in the whole temperature range 298-5000 K.     

Theoretical study of the reactions CF3CH2OCHF2 + OH/Cl and its product radicals and parent ether(CH3CH2OCH3) with OH

A dual-level direct dynamic method is employed to study the reaction mechanisms of CF3CH2OCHF2 (HFE-245fa2; HFE-245mf) with the OH radicals and Cl atoms. Two hydrogen abstraction channels and two displacement processes are found for each reaction. For further study, the reaction mechanisms of its products (CF3CH2OCF2 and CF3CHOCHF2) and parent ether CH3CH2OCH3 with OH radical are investigated theoretically. The geometries and frequencies of all the stationary points and the minimum energy paths (MEPs) are calculated at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level. The energetic information along the MEPs is further refined at the G3(MP2) level of theory. For reactions CF3CH2OCHF2 + OH/Cl, the calculation indicates that the hydrogen abstraction from --CH2-- group is the dominant reaction channel, and the displacement processes may be negligible because of the high barriers. The standard enthalpies of formation for the reactant CF3CH2OCHF2, and two products CF3CH2OCHF2 and CF3CHOCHF2 are evaluated via group-balanced isodesmic reactions. The rate constants of reactions CF3CH2OCHF2 + OH/Cl and CH3CH2OCH3 + OH are estimated by using the variational transition state theory over a wide range of temperature (200-2000 K). The agreement between the theoretical and experimental rate constants is good in the measured temperature range. From the comparison between the rate constants of the reactions CF3CH2OCHF2 and CH3CH2OCH3 with OH, it is shown that the fluorine substitution decreases the reactivity of the C--H bond.     

DFT and ab initio dual-level direct dynamics studies on the reactions of fluorine atom with HOCl and HOBr

The multichannel reactions (1) HOCl + F --> products and (2) HOBr + F --> products have been investigated using the dual-level direct dynamics method. The minimum energy paths (MEPs) are calculated at both the MPW1K/6-311G(d,p) and QCISD/6-311G(d,p) levels, then the single-point energies are further corrected at the QCISD(T)/6-311++G(3df,3pd) level of theory. There are hydrogen-bonded complexes with the energies less than those of the reactants or products located at the entrance or exit channel of both hydrogen abstraction reactions; while for the halogen abstraction channels only one complex exists at the reactant side in the bromine abstraction channel. The rate constants are evaluated by the improved canonical variational transition-state theory (ICVT). The agreement of the rate constants with available experimental values for two reactions at room temperature is good. Theoretical results indicate that for the reaction HOCl + F, hydrogen abstraction channel leading to the formation of HF + ClO will predominate the reaction over the whole temperature range, and the reaction of HOBr + F may proceed mainly through the bromine abstraction channel at the lower temperature while the contribution of hydrogen abstraction channel will become significant as the temperature increases. Because of lack of the kinetic data of these reactions, the present theoretical results are expected to be useful and reasonable to estimate the dynamical properties of these reactions over a wide temperature range where no experimental value is available.     

Thermal decomposition of ethanol. 4. Ab initio chemical kinetics for reactions of H atoms with CH3CH2O and CH3CHOH radicals

The potential energy surfaces of H-atom reactions with CH(3)CH(2)O and CH(3)CHOH, two major radicals in the decomposition and oxidation of ethanol, have been studied at the CCSD(T)/6-311+G(3df,2p) level of theory with geometric optimization carried out at the BH&HLYP/6-311+G(3df,2p) level. The direct hydrogen abstraction channels and the indirect association/decomposition channels from the chemically activated ethanol molecule have been considered for both reactions. The rate constants for both reactions have been calculated at 100-3000 K and 10(-4) Torr to 10(3) atm Ar pressure by microcanonical VTST/RRKM theory with master equation solution for all accessible product channels. The results show that the major product channel of the CH(3)CH(2)O + H reaction is CH(3) + CH(2)OH under atmospheric pressure conditions. Only at high pressure and low temperature, the rate constant for CH(3)CH(2)OH formation by collisonal deactivation becomes dominant. For CH(3)CHOH + H, there are three major product channels; at high temperatures, CH(3)+CH(2)OH production predominates at low pressures (P < 100 Torr), while the formation of CH(3)CH(2)OH by collisional deactivation becomes competitive at high pressures and low temperatures (T < 500 K). At high temperatures, the direct hydrogen abstraction reaction producing CH(2)CHOH + H(2) becomes dominant. Rate constants for all accessible product channels in both systems have been predicted and tabulated for modeling applications. The predicted value for CH(3)CHOH + H at 295 K and 1 Torr pressure agrees closely with available experimental data. For practical modeling applications, the rate constants for the thermal unimolecular decomposition of ethanol giving key accessible products have been predicted; those for the two major product channels taking place by dehydration and C-C breaking agree closely with available literature data.     

Direct ab initio dynamics calculation of the reaction rates of CH3OCl with OH

A direct ab initio dynamics method was carried out for the reaction CH3OCl + OH --> products. Three abstraction channels from chlorine atom, in-plane hydrogen, and out-of-plane hydrogen atoms at the CH3 group have been found. The optimized geometries and frequencies of the stationary points and the minimum-energy paths (MEPs) were calculated at the MP2/6-311G(d,p) level. To improve the reaction enthalpy and potential barrier, single-point calculations were made at three higher levels of theory, the approximate QCISD(T)/6-311++G(3df,2pd), G3, and G3(MP2) levels. Furthermore, the rate constants for three abstraction channels were evaluated using canonical variational transition state theory (CVT) with the small-curvature tunneling correction (SCT) over a wide temperature range of 220-2000 K at above three higher theory levels, respectively. The calculated rate constants as well as branching rates are in reasonable agreement with the experimental values in the temperature region 250-341 K. The present results indicate H-abstraction especially from out-of-plane hydrogen is the main reaction pathway, while Cl-abstraction is much less competitive.     

DFT and ab initio direct dynamics studies on the hydrogen abstraction reactions of chlorine atoms with CH(4-n)F(n) (n = 1-3)

A direct dynamics study is carried out for the hydrogen abstraction reactions Cl + CH(4-n)F(n) (n = 1-3) in the temperature range of 200-1,000 K. The minimum energy paths (MEPs) of these reactions are calculated at the BH&H-LYP/6-311G(d,p) level, and the energies along the MEPs are further refined at the QCISD(T)/6-311+G(2df,2p) and QCISD(T)/6-311+G(d,p) (single-point) level. The rate constants obtained by using the improved canonical variational transition state theory incorporating small-curvature tunneling correction (ICVT/SCT) are in good agreement with the available experimental results. It is shown that the vibrational adiabatic potential energy curves for these reactions have two barriers, a situation similar to the analogous reactions CH(3)X+Cl (X=Cl, Br). The theoretical results show that for the title reactions the variational effect should not be neglected over the whole considered temperature range, while the small-curvature tunneling effect is only important in the lower temperature range. The effects of fluorine substitution on the rate of this kind of reactions are also examined.     

Theoretical study on the OH + CH3NHCOOCH3 reaction

The multiple-channel reactions OH + CH3NHC(O)OCH3 --> products are investigated by direct dynamics method. The optimized geometries, frequencies, and minimum energy path are all obtained at the MP2/6-311+G(d,p) level, and energetic information is further refined by the BMC-CCSD (single-point) method. The rate constants for every reaction channels, R1, R2, R3, and R4, are calculated by canonical variational transition state theory with small-curvature tunneling correction over the temperature range 200-1000 K. The total rate constants are in good agreement with the available experimental data and the two-parameter expression k(T) = 3.95 x 10(-12) exp(15.41/T) cm3 molecule(-1) s(-1) over the temperature range 200-1000 K is given. Our calculations indicate that hydrogen abstraction channels R1 and R2 are the major channels due to the smaller barrier height among four channels considered, and the other two channels to yield CH3NC(O)OCH3 + H2O and CH3NHC(O)(OH)OCH3 + H2O are minor channels over the whole temperature range.     

Mechanistic and kinetic study of the O + CH2OH reaction

The mechanism for the O + CH2OH reaction was investigated by various ab initio quantum chemistry methods. For the chemical activation mechanism, that is, the addition/elimination path, the couple-cluster methods including CCSD and CCSD(T) were employed with the cc-pVXZ (X = D, T, Q, 5) basis sets. For the abstraction channels, multireference methods including CASSCF, CASPT2, and MRCISD were used with the cc-pVDZ and cc-pVTZ basis sets. It has been shown that the production of H + HCOOH is the major channel in the chemical activation mechanism. The minor channels include HCO + H2O and OH + CH2O. The hydrogen abstraction by an O atom from the CH2OH radical produces either OH + CH2O or OH + HCOH. Moreover, the two abstraction reactions are essentially barrierless processes. The rate constants for the association of O with CH2OH have been calculated using the flexible transition state theory. A weak negative temperature dependence of the rate constants is found in the range 250-1000 K. Furthermore, it is estimated that the abstraction processes also play an important role in the O + CH2OH reaction. Additionally, the falloff behavior for the OCH2OH --> H + HCOOH reaction has been investigated. The present theoretical results are compared to the experimental measurements to understand the mechanism and kinetic behavior of the O + CH2OH reaction and the unimolecular reaction of the OCH2OH radical.     

Theoretical study on the Br + CH3SCH3 reaction

The multiple-channel reactions Br + CH(3)SCH(3) --> products are investigated by direct dynamics method. The optimized geometries, frequencies, and minimum energy path are all obtained at the MP2/6-31+G(d,p) level, and energetic information is further refined by the G3(MP2) (single-point) theory. The rate constants for every reaction channels, Br + CH(3)SCH(3) --> CH(3)SCH(2) + HBr (R1), Br + CH(3)SCH(3) --> CH(3)SBr + CH(3) (R2), and Br + CH(3)SCH(3) -->CH(3)S + CH(3)Br (R3), are calculated by canonical variational transition state theory with small-curvature tunneling correction over the temperature range 200-3000 K. The total rate constants are in good agreement with the available experimental data, and the two-parameter expression k(T) = 2.68 x 10(-12) exp(-1235.24/T) cm(3)/(molecule s) over the temperature range 200-3000 K is given. Our calculations indicate that hydrogen abstraction channel is the major channel due to the smallest barrier height among three channels considered, and the other two channels to yield CH(3)SBr + CH(3) and CH(3)S + CH(3)Br are minor channels over the whole temperature range.     

Thermal decomposition of methyl butanoate: ab initio study of a biodiesel fuel surrogate

In this paper, we report a detailed analysis of the breakdown kinetic mechanism for methyl butanoate (MB) using theoretical approaches. Electronic structures and structure-related molecular properties of reactants, intermediates, products, and transition states were explored at the BH&HLYP/cc-pVTZ level of theory. Rate constants for the unimolecular and bimolecular reactions in the temperature range of 300-2500 K were calculated using Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus and transition state theories, respectively. Thirteen pathways were identified leading to the formation of small compounds such as CH(3), C(2)H(3), CO, CO(2), and H(2)CO. For the initial formation of MB radicals, H, CH(3), and OH were considered as reactive radicals participating in hydrogen abstraction reactions. Kinetic simulation results for a high temperature pyrolysis environment show that MB radicals are mainly produced through hydrogen abstraction reactions by H atoms. In addition, the C(O)OCH(3) = CO + CH(3)O reaction is found to be the main source of CO formation. The newly computed kinetic sub-model for MB breakdown is recommended as a core component to study the combustion of oxygenated species.     

Allylic hydrogen abstraction II. H-abstraction from 1,4 type polyalkenes as a model for free radical trapping by polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)

Unsaturated radicals, containing different number of delocalized electrons, are formed via H-atom abstractions with CH(3), iso-C(3)H(7), OOH and OH radicals from (Z,Z) and (E,E)-hepta-2,5-dienes. These reactions and the relative stability of the different allyl-type radicals formed, were studied within the BH&HLYP method, using a 6-311+G(3df,2p) basis set, as well as within the G3MP2 level of theory on BH&HLYP/6-31G(d) geometries. The biallyl type radicals (involving 5 electrons delocalized on 5 carbon atoms) are more stable, by about 47.6 +/- 0.4 kJ mol(-1), than monoallyl type radicals (which involve 3 electrons delocalized on 3 carbon atoms). Three types of the H-atom abstractions were distinguished: direct H-abstraction with CH(3), indirect abstraction with a higher barrier height with iso-C(3)H(7), OOH and a non-direct quasi-barrierless H-abstraction with OH radicals. These observations were also confirmed by the activation entropy versus activation enthalpy as well as the Evans-Polányi's plots. The OOH-hepta-2,5-diene complexes are found to be extremely stable (from -19.6 to 22.3 kJ mol(-1)). The room temperature rate constants were calculated with transition state theory. Formations of monoallyl and biallyl radicals through H-abstraction with OH are fast; the calculated rate constants range from 5.84 x 10(-11) to 1.92 x 10(-9) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) at room temperature. These reactions may play a key role in the "very low temperature combustion" like biological oxidations.     

Theoretical study for the reaction of CH3OCl with Cl atom

A direct dynamics method is employed to study the kinetics of the multiple channel reaction CH(3)OCl + Cl. The potential energy surface (PES) information is explored from ab initio calculations. Two reaction channels, Cl- and H-abstractions, have been identified. The optimized geometries and frequencies of the stationary points and the minimum-energy paths (MEPs) are calculated at the MP2 level of theory using the 6-311G(d, p) and cc-pVTZ basis sets, respectively. The single-point energies along the MEPs are further refined at the G3(MP2)//MP2/6-311G(d, p), G3//MP2/6-311G(d, p), as well as by the multicoefficient correlation method based on QCISD (MC-QCISD) using the MP2/cc-pVTZ geometries. The enthalpies of formation for the species CH(3)OCl and CH(2)OCl are calculated via isodesmic reactions. The rate constants of the two reaction channels are evaluated by using the variational transition-state theory over a wide range of temperature, 220-2200 K. The calculated rate constants exhibit the slightly negative temperature dependence and show good agreement with the available experimental data at room temperature at the G3(MP2)//MP2/6-311G(d, p) level. The present calculations indicate that the two channels are competitive at low temperatures while H-abstraction plays a more important role with the increase of temperature. The calculated k(1a)/k(1) ratio of 0.5 at 298 K is in general agreement with the experimental one, 0.8 +/- 0.2. The high rate constant for CH(3)OCl + Cl shows that removal by reaction with Cl atom is a potentially important loss process for CH(3)OCl in the polar stratosphere.     

Direct dynamics study on the hydrogen abstraction reaction CH2O + HO2 --> CHO + H2O2

We present a direct ab initio dynamics study on the hydrogen abstraction reaction CH2O + HO2 --> CHO + H2O2, which is predicted to have four possible reaction channels caused by different attacking orientations of HO2 radical to CH2O. The structures and frequencies at the stationary points and the points along the minimum energy paths (MEPs) of the four reaction channels are calculated at the B3LYP/cc-pVTZ level of theory. Energetic information of stationary points and the points along the MEPs is further refined by means of some single-point multilevel energy calculations (HL). The rate constants of these channels are calculated using the improved canonical variational transition-state theory with the small-curvature tunneling correction (ICVT/SCT) method. The calculated results show that, in the whole temperature range, the more favorable reaction channels are Channels 1 and 3. The total ICVT/SCT rate constants of the four channels at the HL//B3LYP/cc-pVTZ level of theory are in good agreement with the available experiment data over the measured temperature ranges, and the corresponding three-parameter expression is k(ICVT/SCT) = 3.13 x 10(-20) T(2.70) exp(-11.52/RT) cm3 mole(-1) s(-1) in the temperature range of 250-3000 K. Additionally, the flexibility of the dihedral angle of H2O2 is also discussed to explain the different experimental values.     

Ab initio direct dynamics studies on the reactions of chlorine atom with CH3-nFnCH2OH (n = 1-3)

The hydrogen abstraction reactions of Cl atom with a series of fluorinated alcohols, i.e., CH(3-n)F(n)CH(2)OH + Cl (n = 1-3) (R1-R3) have been studied systematically by ab initio direct dynamics method and the canonical variational transition state theory (CVT). The potential energy surface information is calculated at the MP2/6-311G(d,p) level. Energies along the minimum energy paths are improved by a series of single-point calculations at the higher modified GAUSSIAN-2 (G2M) level of theory. Theoretical analysis shows that three kinds of hydrogen atoms can be abstracted from the reactants CH(2)FCH(2)OH and CHF(2)CH(2)OH, and for CF(3)CH(2)OH, two possible pathways are found. The rate constants for each reaction channel are evaluated by CVT with the small-curvature tunneling correction (SCT) over a wide range of temperature from 200 to 2000 K. The calculated CVT/SCT rate constants are in good agreement with the available experimental values for the reactions CHF(2)CH(2)OH + Cl and CF(3)CH(2)OH + Cl. However, for the reaction CH(2)FCH(2)OH + Cl, there is negative temperature dependence below 500 K, which is different from the experimental fitted. It is shown that in the low temperature ranges, the three reactions all proceed predominantly via H-abstraction from the methylene positions, and with the increase of the temperature the H-abstraction channels from the fluorinated-methyl positions should be taken into account, while the H-abstraction channels from the hydroxyl groups are negligible over the whole temperature ranges. Also, the reactivity decreases substantially with fluorine substitution at the methyl position of alcohol.     

Kinetics of the hydrogen abstraction OH + alkane --> H2O + alkyl reaction class: an application of the reaction class transition state theory

This paper presents an application of the reaction class transition state theory (RC-TST) to predict thermal rate constants for hydrogen abstraction reactions of the type OH + alkane --> HOH + alkyl. We have derived all parameters for the RC-TST method for this reaction class from rate constants of 19 representative reactions, coupling with linear energy relationships (LERs), so that rate constants for any reaction in this class can be predicted from its reaction energy calculated at either the AM1 semiempirical or BH&HLYP/cc-pVDZ level of theory. The RC-TST/LER thermal rate constants for selected reactions are in good agreement with those available in the literature. Detailed analyses of the results show that the RC-TST/LER method is an efficient method for accurately estimating rate constants for a large number of reactions in this class. Analysis of the LERs leads to the discovery of the beta-carbon radical stabilization effect that stabilizes the transition state of any reaction in this class that yields products having one or more beta-carbons, and thus leads to the lower barrier for such a reaction.     

Direct dynamics study on the hydrogen abstraction reactions N2H4 + R-->N2H3 + RH (R=NH2, CH3)

We present a direct ab initio dynamics study on the hydrogen abstraction reactions N(2)H(4)+R-->N(2)H(3)+RH (R=NH(2),CH(3)), which are predicted to have six possible reaction channels for NH(2) abstraction and four for CH(3) abstraction caused by the different N(2)H(4) isomers and various attacking orientations of foreign radical to N(2)H(4). The structures and frequencies at the stationary points and the points along the minimum energy paths (MEPs) of all reaction channels are obtained at the UMP2(full)6-31+G(d,p) level of theory. Energetic information of stationary points and the points along the MEPs is further refined by means of MC-QCISD method. The rate constants of these channels are calculated using the improved canonical variational transition-state theory with the small-curvature tunneling correction (ICVT/SCT) method. The calculated results show that the favorable reaction channels are channels (n1) and (n4) as well as (c1) and (c3) (refer to Scheme 1) in the whole temperature range. The total ICVT/SCT rate constants of all channels for the two reactions at the MC-QCISDUMP2(full)6-31+G(d,p) level are both in good agreement with the available experimental data, and corresponding three-parameter expressions of k(ICVTSCT) in 220-3000 K are fitted as 6.46 x 10(-15)(T298)(3.60) exp(-386T) cm(3) mol(-1) s(-1) for NH(2) abstraction and 1.04 x 10(-14)(T298)(4.00) exp(-2037T) cm(3) mol(-1) s(-1) for CH(3) abstraction. Additionally, the long range interaction between the H atom of X-H bond in foreign radicals and the lone pair on the nonreactive N atom of the transition states is further discussed to explain the various transition-state numbers of the two similar hydrogen abstraction reactions.     

Theoretical study and rate constant calculation for reaction of CF(3)CH(2)OH with OH

The reaction mechanism of CF(3)CH(2)OH with OH is investigated theoretically and the rate constants are calculated by direct dynamics method. The potential energy surface (PES) information, which is necessary for dynamics calculation, is obtained at the B3LYP/6-311G (d, p) level. The single-point energy calculations are performed at the MC-QCISD level using the B3LYP geometries. Complexes, with the energies being less than corresponding reactants and products, are found at the entrance and exit channels for methylene-H-abstraction channel, while for the hydroxyl-H-abstraction channel only entrance complex is located. By means of isodesmic reactions, the enthalpies of the formation for the species CF(3)CH(2)OH, CF(3)CHOH, and CF(3)CH(2)O are estimated at the MC-QCISD//B3LYP/6-311G (d, p) level of theory. The rate constants for two kinds of H-abstraction channels are evaluated by canonical variational transition state theory with the small-curvature tunneling correction (CVT/SCT) over a wide range of temperature 200-2000 K. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental values in the temperature region 250-430 K. The present results indicate that the two channels are competitive. Below 289 K, hydroxyl-H-abstraction channel has more contribution to the total rate constants than methylene-H-abstraction channel, while above 289 K, methylene-H-abstraction channel becomes more important and then becomes the major reaction channel.     

Theoretical study on the reaction of SiH(CH(3))(3) with SiH(3) radical

The multiple-channel reactions SiH(3) + SiH(CH(3))(3) --> products are investigated by direct dynamics method. The minimum energy path (MEP) is calculated at the MP2/6-31+G(d,p) level, and energetic information is further refined by the MC-QCISD (single-point) method. The rate constants for individual reaction channels are calculated by the improved canonical variational transition state theory with small-curvature tunneling correction over the temperature range of 200-2400 K. The theoretical three-parameter expression k(T) = 2.44 x 10(-23)T(3.94) exp(-4309.55/T) cm(3)/(molecule s) is given. Our calculations indicate that hydrogen abstraction channel R1 from SiH group is the major channel because of the smaller barrier height among five channels considered.     

CHnF4-n与O3吸氢反应途径和速率常数计算

用量子化学方法, 从理论上探讨了CHnF4-n(n=2,3)与臭氧反应的微观机理, 并计算了各反应在不同温度下的速率常数.