Ultraviolet Photodissociation Dynamics of 1-Pentyl Radical?

The ultraviolet (UV) photodissociation of jet-cooled 1-pentyl radical is investigated in the wavelength region of 236-254 nm using the high-n Rydberg-atom time-of-flight (HRTOF) technique. The H-atom photofragment yield spectrum of the 1-pentyl radical shows a broad UV absorption feature peaking near 245 nm, similar to the 2p_z→3s absorption bands of ethyl and n-propyl. The center-of-mass translational energy distribution, P(E_T), of the H+C₅H₁₀ product channel is bimodal, with a slow peak at ~5 kcal/mol and a fast peak at ~50 kcal/mol. The fraction of the average translational energy release in the total available energy, 〈f_T〉, is 0.30, with those of the slow and fast components being 0.13 and 0.58, respectively. The slow component has an isotropic product angular distribution, while the fast component is anisotropic with an anisotropy parameter ~0.4. The bimodal translational energy and angular distributions of the H+C₅H₁₀ products indicate two H-atom elimination channels in the photodissociation of 1-pentyl:(ⅰ) a direct, prompt dissociation from the electronic excited state and/or the repulsive part of the ground electronic state potential energy surface; and (ⅱ) a unimolecular dissociation of internally hot radical in the ground electronic state after internal conversion from the electronic excited state.     

Dynamics of CO formation in the photodissociation of HNCO and CH2CO at 193nm

The photodissociation of isocyanic acid (HNCO) and ketene (CH₂CO) at 193 nm was investigated using an ArF laser to dissociate the carbonyl compound and a CO laser to probe the resulting vibrationally excited CO. The dissociation of HNCO at 193 nm produces CO with an average vibrational energy of 4.6 ± 0.3 kcal/mol. The dissociation Gf CH₂CO at 193 nm produces CO with an average vibrational energy of 6.4 ± 0.8 kcal/mol. The observed CO vibrational energy distributions were found to be in close agreement with those predicted statistically assuming NH(a ¹Δ) + CO and CH₂(¹A₁) + CO were the photodissociation products.     

Anion⋅⋅⋅Anion Attraction in Complexes of MCl3− (M=Zn,Cd, Hg) with CN−

High-level ab initio calculations show that the MCl₃⁻ anions comprising Group 2B M atoms Zn, Cd, and Hg form a stable complex with the CN⁻ anion, despite the like charge of the two ions. The complexation occurs despite a negative π-hole region above the M atom of MCl₃⁻. The dimerization distorts the planar geometry of MCl₃⁻ into a pyramidal shape which reduces the negative potential above the M atom, facilitating a close approach of the two anions, with R(M⋅⋅⋅C)∼2 Å, and an overall attractive electrostatic attraction within the dimer. In the gas phase, this dimer is less stable than the pair of separated ions by some 30 kcal/mol. However, the dissociation must surmount an energy barrier of roughly 25 kcal/mol which occurs at an intermolecular distance of 4 Å. In aqueous solution, the dimerization process is exothermic and barrier-free, with a binding energy in the 11–18 kcal/mol range.     

Ab Initio Study on the Potential Energy Surfaces of B4 Cluster

The singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces (PES) for the isomerization and dissociation reactions of B₄ isomers have been investigated using ab initio methods. Ten B4 isomers have been identified and of these 10 species, 4 have not been reported previously. The singlet rhombic structure ¹1 is found to be the most stable on the B₄ surface, in agreement with the results of previous reports. Several isomerization and dissociation pathways have been found. On the singlet PES, the linear ¹3b can rearrange to rhombus ¹1 directly, while ¹3c rearranges to ¹1 through two‐step reactions involving a cyclic intermediate. On the triplet PES, the capped triangle structure ³2 undergoes ring opening to the linear isomer ³3b with a barrier of 34.8 kcal/mol and 44.9 kcal/mol, and the latter undergoes ring closure to the square structure ³1 with a barrier of 30.4 kcal/mol and 33.0 kcal/mol at the MP4/6–311+G(3df)//MP2/6–311G(d) and CCSD/aug‐cc‐pVTZ//MP2/6–311G(d) levels of theory, respectively. The direct decomposition of singlet B₄ yielding to B₃+B is shown to have a large endothermicity of 87.3 kcal/mol (CCSD), and that producing 2B₂ to have activation energy of 133.4 kcal/mol (CCSD).     

The nascent translational energy of difluorocarbene produced in IR MPD of the pentafluoroethyl radical

We report upon the direct detection of difluorocarbene following infrared multiphoton photolysis of pentafluoroethyl iodide using well-defined (SLM, TEM₀₀, 80 ns pulse width) TEA CO₂-laser pulses. The rate of appearance of CF₂ at 1 mTorr pressure and RRKM modelling of the unimolecular dissociation of C₂F₃I and C₂F₅ using reasonable input parameters are presented. These support a mechanism whereby CF₂ is produced by secondary photolysis of pentafluoroethyl radicals. Measurements of the velocity of CF₂ by the transient diffusion technique lead to an estimate of 2.6 kcal/mol for its average translational energy acquired from the homolytic cleavage of the CI and CC bonds. This value is higher than that predicted from the models using reasonable spontaneous dissociation rates ( = 10⁹ s^?1). An inherent assumption of the models is that the excess energy of dissociation is distributed statistically among the vibrational modes of the reaction complex and that there are no small barriers in the exit channel.     

Ab initio studies of isomerization and dissociation reactions of methyl peroxynitrate

Using the CCSD(T)/cc-pVDZ//B3LYP/6-311G(2d,2p) method, we calculated the detailed potential energy surfaces (PESs) for the unimolecular isomerization and decomposition of methyl peroxynitrate (CH₃O₂NO₂). The results show that there are the two most stable isomers, IS1a and IS1b, which are a pair of mirror image isomers. From IS1a and IS1b, different isomerization and unimolecular decomposition reaction channels have been studied and discussed. Among them, the predominant thermal decomposition pathways are those leading to CH₃O₂ + NO₂ and cis-CH₃ONO + O₂. The former is the lowest-energy path through the direct O–N bond rupture in IS1a or IS1b. The PES along the O–N bond in IS1a has been scanned, where the energy of IS1a reaches maximum value of 23.5 kcal/mol when the O–N bond is stretched to about 2.8 Å. This energy is 2.7 kcal/mol larger than the O–N bond dissociation energy (BDE) and 2.8 kcal/mol larger than the experimental active energy. In addition, because the energy barriers of IS1a isomerization to IS2a are 23.8 kcal/mol, close to the 20.8 kcal/mol O–N BDE in IS1a or IS1b, the isomerization reaction may compete with the direct bond rupture dissociation reaction.     

Theory-enforced Re-investigation of the Origin of the Large Metal–Carbon Bond Strength in PdCH2I+ and its reactions with unsaturated hydrocarbons

State-of-the-art ab initio studies demonstrate that the reaction Pd⁺ + CH₃I → PdCH₂I⁺ + H^. is endothermic by ca. 20 kcal/mol, which translates into a bond dissociation energy (BDE) of ca. 83 kcal/mol for the Pd⁺? CH₂I bond. This figure is in agreement with an experimental bracket of 68 kcal/mol < BDE(Pd⁺? CH₂I) < 92 kcal/mol. Based on these findings, the previously studied Pd⁺/CH₃I system was re-investigated, and double-resonance experiments demonstrate that the formation of PdCH₂I⁺ occurs stepwise via PdCH as a reactive intermediate. Further, ion/molecule reactions of PdCH₂I⁺ with unsaturated hydrocarbons are studied, which reveal the formation of carbon–carbon bonds in the gas phase.     

Ab initioMO calculations on the acidities of water and methanol,and hydrogen bond energies of the conjugate ions with a water molecule

The acidities, deprotonation energies, of water and methanol were calculated by the use of the ab initio self-consistent-field (SCF ) molecular orbital (MO ) method with electron correlation computed by the thirdorder Møller–Plesset perturbation method and configuration interaction with double excitations. Zero-point vibrational energy correction translational energy change, and the PV work term were included to evaluate the accurate acidities. The calculated acidity difference including these corrections was 7 kcal/mol, which is somewhat smaller than the experimental ones (9.5–12.5 kcal/mol) recently determined. The hydrogen bond energies of the conjugate ions (OH^? and CH₃O^?) with a water molecule were calculated to be 2.3 kcal/mol near the Hartree–Fock limit; this energy only amounts to 25% of the (total) hydration energy difference between the two negative ions. The aqueous solvation effect on the acidity scale was discussed.     

Is the stereomutation of methane possible?

Large basis set ab initio calculations at correlated levels, including MP2, single reference, as well as multireference configuration interaction, carried out on the methane potential energy surface, have located and characterized a transition structure for stereomutation (one imaginary frequency). This structure is best described as a pyramidal complex between singlet methylene and a side-on hydrogen molecule with C_s symmetry. At the single reference CI level, it lies 105 kcal/mol above the methane T_d-ground state but is stable relative to dissociation into CH₂(¹A₁) and H₂ by 13 kcal/mol at 0 K (with harmonic zero point energy (ZPE) corrections for all structures). Dissociation of the transition state into triplet methylene and hydrogen also is endothermic (by 4 kcal/mol), but single bond rupture to give CH and H^. is 3 kcal/mol exothermic. Thus, it does not appear likely that methane can undergo stereomutation classically beneath the dissociation limit. Confirming earlier conclusions, side-on insertion of ¹A₁ CH₂ into H₂ in a perpendicular geometry occurs without activation energy. Planar (D_4h) methane (130.5 kcal/mol) has four imaginary frequencies. Two of these are degenerate and lead to equivalent planar C_2v structures with one three-center, two-electron bond and two two-electron bonds and two imaginary frequencies. The remaining imaginary frequencies of the D_4h form lead to tetrahedral (T_d) and pyramidal (C_4v) methane. The latter has three negative eigenvalues in the force-constant matrix; one of these leads to the T_d global minimum and the other to the C_s (parallel) stereomutation transition structure. Multireference CI calculations with a large atomic natural orbitals basis set produce similar results, with the electronic energy of the C_s stereomutation transition state 0.7 ± 0.5 kcal/mol higher than that of CH + H^. dissociation products, and a ZPE-corrected energy which is 5 ± 1 kcal/mol higher. Also considered are photochemical pathways for stereomutation and the possible effects of nuclear spin, inversion tunneling, and the parity-violating weak nuclear interaction on the possibility of an experimental detection of stereomutation in methane. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Quantum-Chemical Study of Alkyl Carbenium Ions in 100% Sulfuric Acid

A quantum-chemical study of neutral and protonated monoalkyl sulfates RHSO₄and [RH₂SO₄]⁺(where R = CH₃, C₂H₅, iso-C₃H₇, and tert-C₄H₉) is carried out. Calculations are performed using the Hartree–Fock method in the 6-31G** and 6-31++G** basis sets taking into account electron correlation according to the Müller–Plesset perturbation theory MP2/6-31+G*//6-31+G*. Protonated tert-butyl sulfate was also calculated by the DFT B3LYP/6-31++G** method. It was found that monoalkyl sulfates are covalent compounds, and the complete abstraction of alkyl carbenium ions from them has substantial energy cost: 196.4, 161.7, 150.8 and 136.0 kcal/mol, respectively. Protonated methyl and ethyl sulfates are also covalent compounds according to the calculation. They have lower but still high energies of heterolytic dissociation (65.0 and 33.5 kcal/mol, respectively). The energy of R⁺abstraction from protonated isopropyl sulfate is much lower: 23.6 kcal/mol. The main covalent state and the ion–molecular pair, which is a carbenium ion [C(CH₃)₂H]⁺solvated by the H₂SO₄molecule, have about the same energy. The ground state of protonated tert-butyl sulfate corresponds to the ion–molecular complex [C(CH₃)⁺ ₃H₂SO₄] with still lower energy of carbenium ion [C(CH₃)₃]⁺abstraction, which is equal to 10.0 kcal/mol. Calculation according to the DFT B3LYP/6-31++G** method shows the absence of a minimum for the protonated tert-butyl sulfate with a covalent structure on the potential energy surface.     

Structures of gas-phase C2F 7 + ions

In an ion cyclotron resonance spectrometer, less than 96% of the C₇F ₇ ⁺ cation formed on electron ionization of perfluorotoluene reacts with hexamethyldisilazane. In contrast, the C₇F ₇ ⁺ from perfluoronorbornadiene or perfluorobicyclo[3.2.O]hepta-2,6-diene is nonreactive with hexamethyldisilazane. Collision-induced dissociation results support this dichotomy, although the evidence is not as clear-cut. The reactive ion is assigned the benzyl structure and the nonreactive ion the tropyl structure, on the basis of analogy with the protio cases. By AM1 calculations, the perfluorobenzyl ion is 25 kcal/mol more stable than the perfluorotropyl ion, the opposite of the situation for the protio analogs (? 12 kcal/mol). Ab initio calculations at the 3–21G level agree with the semiempirical energy difference to within 0.4 kcal/mol; at the more appropriate 6–31G*/MP2 level, the perfluorobenzyl cation is 9.7 kcal/mol more stable than the perfluorotropyl cation.     

Ethene loss kinetics of methyl 2-methyl butanoate ions studied by threshold photoelectron-photoion coincidence: The enol ion of methyl propionate heat of formation

Threshold photoelectron-photoion coincidence (TPEPICO) spectroscopy has been used to investigate the unimolecular chemistry of gas-phase methyl 2-methyl butanoate ions [CH₃CH₂CH(CH₃)COOCH₃^·+]. This ester ion isomerizes to a lower energy distonic ion [CH₂CH₂CH(CH₃)COHOCH₃^·+] prior to dissociating by the loss of C₂H₄. The asymmetric time of flight distributions, which arise from the slow rate of dissociation at low ion energies, provide information about the ion dissociation rates. By modeling these rates with assumed k(E) functions, the thermal energy distribution for room temperature sample, and the analyzer function for threshold electrons, it was possible to extract the dissociative photoionization threshold for methyl 2-methyl butanoate which at 0 K is 9.80 ± 0.01 eV as well as the dissociation barrier of the distonic ion of 0.86 ± 0.01 eV. By combining these with an estimated heat of formation of methyl 2-methyl butanoate, we derive a 0 K heat of formation of the distonic ion CH₂CH₂CH(CH₃)COHOCH₃^·+ of 101.0 ± 2.0 kcal/mol. The product ion is the enol of methyl propionate, CH₃CHCOHOCH₃^·+, which has a derived heat of formation at 0 K of 106.0 ± 2.0 kcal/mol.     

Identification of decomposition reactions for HMDSO organosilicon using quantum chemical calculations

Hexamethyldisiloxane [HMDSO, (CH₃)₃-SiOSi-(CH₃)₃] is an important precursor for SiO₂ formation during flame-based silica material synthesis. As a result, HMDSO reactions in flame have been widely investigated experimentally, and many results have indicated that HMDSO decomposition reactions occur very early in this process. In this paper, quantum chemical calculations are performed to identify the initial decomposition of HMDSO and its subsequent reactions using the density functional theory at the level of B3LYP/6-311+G (d, p). Four reaction pathways—(a) Si O bond dissociation of HMDSO, (b) Si C bond dissociation of HMDSO, (c) dissociation and recombination of Si O and Si C bonds, and (d) elimination of a methane molecule from HMDSO—have been examined and identified. From the results, it is found that the barrier of 84.38 kcal/mol and Si O bond dissociation energy of 21.55 kcal/mol are required for the initial decomposition reaction of HMDSO in the first pathway, but the highest free energy barrier (100.69 kcal/mol) is found in the third reaction pathway. By comparing the free energy barriers and reaction rate constants, it is concluded that the most possible initial decomposition reaction of HMDSO is to eliminate the CH₃ radical by Si C bond dissociation.     

Molecular elimination of methyl formate in photolysis at 234 nm: roaming vs. transition state-type mechanism

Ion imaging coupled with (2 + 1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) technique is employed to probe CO(v″ = 0) fragments at different rotational levels following photodissociation of methyl formate (HCOOCH(3)) at 234 nm. When the rotational level, J″(CO), is larger than 24, only a broad translational energy distribution extending beyond 70 kcal mol(-1) with an average energy of about 23 kcal mol(-1) appears. The dissociation process is initiated on the energetic ground state HCOOCH(3) that surpasses a tight transition state along the reaction coordinate prior to breaking into CO + CH(3)OH. This molecular dissociation pathway accounts for the CO fragment with larger rotational energy and large translational energy. As J″(CO) decreases, a bimodal distribution arises with one broad component and the other sharp component carrying the average energy of only 1-2 kcal mol(-1). The branching ratio of the sharp component increases with a decrease of J″(CO); (7.3 ± 0.6)% is reached as the image is probed at J″(CO) = 10. The production of a sharp component is ascribed to a roaming mechanism that has the following features: a small total translational energy, a low rotational energy partitioning in CO, but a large internal energy in the CH(3)OH co-product. The internal energy deposition in the fragments shows distinct difference from those via the conventional transition state.     

Theoretical Studies of Inorganic Compounds. 361) Structures and Bonding Analyses of Beryllium Chloro Complexes with Nitrogen Donors

Quantum chemical calculations at various levels of theory (BP86, B3LYP, MP2, CCSD(T), CBS‐QB3) of the beryllium complexes [BeCl₂(NHPH₃)], [BeCl₂(NHPH₃)₂], [BeCl₃(py)]^?, [BeCl₂(NH₃)], [BeCl₂(NH₃)₂], [BeCl₃(py)]^? and [BeCl₃(NH₃)]^? as well as the boron compounds [BCl₃(py)] and [BCl₃(NH₃)] show that BeCl₂ is a very strong Lewis acid. The theoretically predicted bond dissociation energy at CBS‐QB3 of Cl₂Be‐NH₃ (D_e = 32.5 kcal/mol)is even higher than that of Cl₃B‐NH₃ (D_e = 28.6 kcal/mol). Even the second ammonia molecule in [BeCl₂(NH₃)₂] still has a strong bond with D_e = 24.2 kcal/mol. The theoretically predicted bond strengths for the phosphaneimine ligands in [BeCl₂(NHPH₃)₂] are D_e = 46.7 kcal/mol for the first ligand and D_e = 29.8 kcal/mol for the second. The anion BeCl₃^? is a moderately strong Lewis acid which has bond energies of D_e = 14.1 kcal/mol in [BeCl₃(py)]^? and D_e = 14.2 kcal/mol in [BeCl₃(NH₃)]^?. The higher bond energy of [BeCl₂(NH₃)] compared with [BCl₃(NH₃)] comes from less deformation energy for BeCl₂ than for BCl₃. The intrinsic attraction between BeCl₂ and NH₃ calculated with frozen geometries of the complex geometry is ～5 kcal/mol less than the attraction between BCl₃ and NH₃. The bonding analysis with the EDA method shows that the attractive energy of the beryllium complexes comes manly from electrostatic attraction. The larger contribution of the electrostatic term is the most significant difference between the nature of the donor‐acceptor bonds of the beryllium and boron complexes.     

Quantum mechanical and molecular mechanics approach with a multilayered-quantum representation study of solvent effects and potentials of mean force for the CH<Subscript>3</Subscript>CH<Subscript>2</Subscript>Cl + ClO<Superscript>−</Superscript> S<Subscript>N</Subscript>2 reaction in aqueous solution

The bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction of CH₃CH₂Cl + ClO^? in aqueous solution was investigated using a multilayered-quantum representation, quantum mechanical and molecular mechanics approach with an explicit water model. Ten configurations along the reaction pathway including reactant complex, transition state and product complex were analyzed in the presence of the aqueous solution. The obtained free energy activation barrier under the CCSD(T)/MM representation is 13.2 kcal/mol, while it is 11.7 kcal/mol under the DFT/MM representation which agrees very well with the DFT calculation, at 11.0 kcal/mol, with a polarizable continuum solvent model. The solvent effects including the solvation free energy contribution and the polarization effect raise the free activation barrier by 9.8 kcal/mol. The rate constant, at 298 K, is 5.27 × 10^?17 cm³/molecule/s which is about seven orders of magnitude smaller than that in the gas phase (1.10 × 10^?10 cm³/molecule/s). All in all, the aqueous solution plays an essential role in shaping the reaction pathway for this reaction in water.     

A theoretical comparison of the lowest-lying singlet and triplet states of H2CBe and of HCBeH

The low-lying singlet and triplet states of H₂CBe and HCBeH are examined using ab inito molecular orbital theory. In agreement with earlier results, the lowest-lying structure of H₂CBe has C_2v symmetry and is a triplet with one π electron (³ B₁). The results presented here suggest that the lowest-energy singlet structure is the (¹B₁) open-shell singlet, also with C_2v symmetry, at least 2.5 kcal/mol higher in energy. The singlet C_2v structure with two π electrons (¹A₁) is 15.9 kcal/mol higher than ³B₁. All of these structures are bound with respect to the ground state of methylene and the beryllium atom. In HCBeH, linear equilibrium geometries are found for the triplet (³Σ) and singlet (¹Δ) states. The triplet is more stable than the singlet (¹Δ) by 35.4 kcal/mol, and is only 2.9 kcal/mol higher in energy than triplet H₂ CBe. Since the transition structure connecting these two triplet molecules is found to be 50.2 kcal/mol higher in energy than H₂ CBe, both triplet equilibrium species might exist independently. The harmonic vibrational frequencies of all structures are also reported.     

Kinetics of CN reactions with N2O and CO2

The rate constants for the reaction of CN with N₂O and CO₂ have been measured by the laser dissociation/laser-induced fluorescence (two-laser pump-probe) technique at temperatures between 300 and 740 K. The rate of CN + N₂O was measurable above 500 K, with a least-squares averaged rate constant, k = 10^−11.8±0.4 exp(−3560 ± 181/T) cm³/s. The rate of CN + CO₂, however, was not measurable even at the highest temperature reached in the present work, 743 K, with [CO₂] ⩽ 1.9 × 10¹⁸ molecules/cm³. In order to rationalize the observed kinetics, quantum mechanical calculations based on the BAC-MP4 method were performed. The results of these calculations reveal that the CN + N₂O reaction takes place via a stable adduct NCNNO with a small barrier of 1.1 kcal/mol. The adduct, which is more stable than the reactants by 13 kcal/mol, decomposes into the NCN + NO products with an activation energy of 20.0 kcal/mol. This latter process is thus the rate-controlling step in the CN + N₂O reaction. The CN + CO₂ reaction, on the other hand, occurs with a large barrier of 27.4 kcal/mol, producing an unstable adduct NCOCO which fragments into NCO + CO with a small barrier of 4.5 kcal/mol. The large overall activation energy for this process explains the negligibly low reactivity of the CN radical toward CO₂ below 1000 K. Least-squares analyses of the computed rate constants for these two CN reactions, which fit well with experimental data, give rise to for the temperature range 300–3000 K.     

How do dimethyl oxalate ions CH3O-C(=O)-C(=O)-OCH 3 ·+ break in half? Loss of CH 3 · + CO2 versus CH3O-C-O·

The interesting unimolecular dissociation chemistry of dimethyl oxalate (DMO) ions, CH₃O-C(=O)-C(=O)-OCH ₃ ^·+ , has been studied by vacuum ultraviolet photoionization and tandem mass spectrometry based experiments. The measured appearance energy (AE) for the generation of CH₃O-C=O⁺ (10. 5 eV) is not compatible with a simple bond cleavage involving the cogeneration of the radical CH₃O-C=O^· whose calculated AE is 11 kcal/mol higher. However, because the CH₃O-C=O^· radical is thermodynamically less stable than its dissociation products CH₃ ^· and CO₂, by 19 kcal/mol, a two-step dissociation of ionized DMO into CH₃O-C=O⁺ + CH ₃ ^· + CO₂ is energetically feasible. Collision induced dissociative ionization experiments clearly show that low energy DMO ions dissociate into CH₃ ^· + CO₂ without the intermediacy of CH₃O-C=O^·. Experiments using a charged collision chamber further indicate that CO₂ is released first, followed by loss of CH₃ ^· and not vice versa and a mechanism is proposed. The measured AE, which we assign to the two-step process, is 8 kcal/mol higher than the calculated value. This could be due to a competitive shift caused by a prominent low energy decarbonylation reaction yielding the hydrogen bridged radical cation CH₂=O … H … O=C-OCH₃ ^·+. However, from metastable ion observations and AE measurements on deuterium labeled DMO ions, it follows that there is no competitive shift and that the elevated AE for the two-step process corresponds to the barrier for the first step, loss of CO₂. Finally, neutralization-reionization experiments on ionized DMO and CH₃O-C=O⁺ provide evidence for the existence of CH₃O-C=O^· as a kinetically stable radical.     

Ab initio study of the inversion barrier in NF3+

Ab initio Hartree–Fock, Møller–Plesset perturbation theory (MP 2), and quadratic configuration interaction, using single and double substitutions (QCISD ), calculations were carried out for the NF₃⁺ ion. Optimized structures were examined at the various levels of theory. Calculation of the inversion barrier height shows the importance of optimizing the geometry at the post-Hartree–Fock level and the inclusion of polarization functions. The best calculated inversion barrier was 13.3 kcal/mol, compared to an experimental value of 17.3 kcal/mol. The dissociation transition state was computed to determine the well depth of the NF₃⁺ ion and its stability toward dissociation. The computed well depth was 28 and 48 kcal/mol at the SCF and MP 2 levels, respectively. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.