Rate coefficients of the CF3CHFCF3 + H → CF3CFCF3 + H2 reaction at different temperatures calculated by transition state theory with ab initio and DFT reaction paths

The minimum energy path (MEP) of the reaction, CF₃CHFCF₃ + H → transition state (TS) → CF₃CFCF₃ + H₂, has been computed at different ab initio levels and with density functional theory (DFT) using different functionals. The computed B3LYP/6‐31++G**, BH&HLYP/cc‐pVDZ, BMK/6‐31++G**, M05/6‐31+G**, M05‐2X/6‐31+G**, UMP2/6‐31++G**, PUMP2/6‐31++G**//UMP2/6‐31++G**, RCCSD(T)/aug‐cc‐pVDZ//UMP2/6‐31++G**, RCCSD(T)/aug‐cc‐pVTZ(spd,sp)//UMP2//6‐31++G**, RCCSD(T)/CBS//M05/6‐31+G**, and RCCSD(T)/CBS//UMP2/6‐31++G** MEPs, and associated gradients and Hessians, were used in reaction rate coefficient calculations based on the transition state theory (TST). Reaction rate coefficients were computed between 300 and 1500 K at various levels of TST, which include conventional TST, canonical variational TST (CVT) and improved CVT (ICVT), and with different tunneling corrections, namely, Wigner, zero‐curvature, and small‐curvature (SCT). The computed rate coefficients obtained at different ab initio, DFT and TST levels are compared with experimental values available in the 1000–1200 K temperature range. Based on the rate coefficients computed at the ICVT/SCT level, the highest TST level used in this study, the BH&HLYP functional performs best among all the functionals used, while the RCCSD(T)/CBS//MP2/6‐31++G** level is the best among all the ab initio levels used. Comparing computed reaction rate coefficients obtained at different levels of theory shows that, the computed barrier height has the strongest effect on the computed reaction rate coefficients as expected. Variational effects on the computed rate coefficients are found to be negligibly small. Although tunneling effects are relatively small at high temperatures (～1500 K), SCT corrections are significant at low temperatures (～300 K), and both barrier heights and the magnitudes of the imaginary frequencies affect SCT corrections. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.