State-to-state correlated study of CD3I photodissociation at 266 and 304 nm

High-resolution photofragment translational spectroscopy is used in this work to measure the translational and internal energy distributions in the CD3 and iodine fragments produced from the photodissociation of CD3I at 266 and 304 nm. Channel selected detection, via resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization, combined with one-dimensional core sampling provides detailed information about vibrational state distributions of the CD3 fragments. The vibrational state distributions of CD3 fragments in the I*(2P12) channel have a propensity of nu2 ' umbrella bending mode with a maximum at nu2 ' = 1 for 266 nm photodissociation. For I*(2P12) channel at 304 nm photodissociation, vibrational state distributions of CD3 fragment have a maximum in the vibrational ground state. For the I(2P32) channel (1Q1 <-- 3Q(0+)), nu2 ' umbrella bending vibrational distribution is measured as the predominant vibrational mode but has a much broader distribution when compared to that of the I* channel. The vibrational state distributions of the CD3 fragment produced from the perpendicular transition, i.e., 3Q1, which was determined at 304 nm photodissociation, has a maximum at nu2 ' = 1. The curve crossing possibility between the 1Q1 and 3Q(0+) adiabatic potentials is determined as 0.19 for 266 and 0.85 for 304 nm. The trend in reaction dynamics in 266 and 304 nm photodissociation of CD3I is compared with theoretical calculations. A bond dissociation energy D0(C-I) = 56.60+/-0.5 kcal/mol was derived by applying laws of energy conservation.     

State to State Photodissociation Dynamics of Vibrationally Excited D2O in B Band

The state-to-state photodissociassion dynamics for the B band of D₂O have been explored from quantum dynamical calculations including the electronic ~X and ~B states. The calculations were carried out using a Chebyshev real wave packet method. The calculated absorption spectra, product state distributions, and branching ratios from different initial vibrational states show di?erent dynamic features, due to the different shapes of the vibrational wavefunctions. The initial bending mode (0,1,0) generates two lobes with a shallow minimum on the absorption spectrum and a slight inverted vibrational population of OD(~X )product at high total energies. The rotational state distributions of OD(~X , v=0) product are highly inverted and depend weakly on the initial state and total energy. On the other hand, the ro-vibrational distributions of OD(A~) product strongly oscillate with the total energy, which are dominated by the long-living resonances and depend sensitively on the potential surfaces. The antisymmetric stretching mode (0,0,1) has large OD( ~ A)/OD(~X ) branching ratios at high total energies, which indicates that the B band dissociation proceeds mainly via the adiabatic pathway in some cases.     

Long live vinylidene! A new view of the H(2)C=C: --> HC triple bond CH rearrangement from ab initio molecular dynamics.

We present complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations of the preparation of the metastable species vinylidene, and its subsequent, highly exothermic isomerization to acetylene, via electron removal from vinylidene anion (D(2)C=C(-) --> D(2)C=C: --> DC triple bond CD). After equilibrating vinylidene anion-d(2) at either 600 +/- 300 K (slightly below the isomerization barrier) or 1440 K +/- 720 K (just above the isomerization barrier), we remove an electron to form a vibrationally excited singlet vinylidene-d(2) and follow its dynamical evolution for 1.0 ps. Remarkably, we find that none of the vinylidenes equilibrated at 600 K and only 20% of the vinylidenes equilibrated at 1440 K isomerized, suggesting average lifetimes >1 ps for vibrationally excited vinylidene-d(2). Since the anion and neutral vinylidene are structurally similar, and yet extremely different geometrically from the isomerization transition state (TS), neutral vinylidene is not formed near the TS so that it must live until it has sufficient instantaneous kinetic energy in the correct vibrational mode(s). The origin of the delay is explained via both orbital rearrangement and intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) effects. Unique signatures of the isomerization dynamics are revealed in the anharmonic vibrational frequencies extracted from the AIMD, which should be observable by ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy and in fact are consistent with currently available experimental spectra. Most interestingly, of those trajectories that did isomerize, every one of them violated conventional transition-state theory by recrossing back to vinylidene multiple times, against conventional notions that expect highly exothermic reactions to be irreversible. The dynamical motion responsible for the multiple barrier recrossings involves strong mode-coupling between the vinylidene CD(2) rock and a local acetylene DCC bend mode that has been recently observed experimentally. The multiple barrier recrossings can be used, via a generalized definition of lifetime, to reconcile extremely disparate experimental estimates of vinylidene's lifetime (differing by at least 6 orders of magnitude). Last, a caveat: These results are constrained by the approximations inherent in the simulation (classical nuclear motion, neglect of rotation-vibration coupling, and restriction to C(s) symmetry); refinement of these predictions may be necessary when more exact simulations someday become feasible.     

Direct dynamics simulation of dioxetane formation and decomposition via the singlet [middle dot]O-O-CH(2)-CH(2)[middle dot] biradical: Non-RRKM dynamics

Electronic structure calculations and direct chemical dynamics simulations are used to study the formation and decomposition of dioxetane on its ground state singlet potential energy surface. The stationary points for (1)O(2) + C(2)H(4), the singlet [middle dot]O-O-CH(2)-CH(2)[middle dot] biradical, the transition state (TS) connecting this biradical with dioxetane, and the two transition states and gauche [middle dot]O-CH(2)-CH(2)-O[middle dot] biradical connecting dioxetane with the formaldehyde product molecules are investigated at different levels of electronic structure theory including UB3LYP, UMP2, MRMP2, and CASSCF and a range of basis sets. The UB3LYP∕6-31G? method was found to give representative energies for the reactive system and was used as a model for the simulations. UB3LYP∕6-31G? direct dynamics trajectories were initiated at the TS connecting the [middle dot]O-O-CH(2)-CH(2)[middle dot] biradical and dioxetane by sampling the TS's vibrational energy levels, and rotational and reaction coordinate energies, with Boltzmann distributions at 300, 1000, and 1500 K. This corresponds to the transition state theory model for trajectories that pass the TS. The trajectories were directed randomly towards both the biradical and dioxetane. A small fraction of the trajectories directed towards the biradical recrossed the TS and formed dioxetane. The remainder formed (1)O(2) + C(2)H(4) and of these ～ 40% went directly from the TS to (1)O(2) + C(2)H(4) without getting trapped and forming an intermediate in the [middle dot]O-O-CH(2)-CH(2)[middle dot] biradical potential energy minimum, a non-statistical result. The dioxetane molecules which are formed dissociate to two formaldehyde molecules with a rate constant two orders of magnitude smaller than that predicted by Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory. The reaction dynamics from dioxetane to the formaldehyde molecules do not follow the intrinsic reaction coordinate or involve trapping in the gauche [middle dot]O-CH(2)-CH(2)-O[middle dot] biradical potential energy minimum. Important non-statistical dynamics are exhibited for this reactive system.     

Treatment of the K-quantum number in unimolecular reaction theory: insights from product correlations

The connection between the K-quantum number and product correlations in the barrierless unimolecular dissociation of symmetric-top molecules is explored to establish a qualitative diagnostic for the treatment of the K-rotor dynamics in unimolecular reaction theory. We find that fragment scalar and vector correlations can provide guidance in this matter, and the photodissociation dynamics of thermal NCNO to form CN and NO at several dissociation wavelengths are presented to demonstrate the utility of this approach. The "goodness" of the K-quantum number can be related to the amount of energy in the conserved vibrational modes at the inner transition state. On the basis of measured correlated vibrational distributions, the K-quantum number is found to be approximately conserved at the inner transition state for the photodissociation of NCNO at 514, 520, and 526 nm. The methodology, involving a comparison of product distributions from the photodissociation of jet and thermal ensembles at identical wavelengths, is general and may be applied to previously studied systems that dissociate along barrierless potential energy surfaces, CF(3)NO and CH(2)CO. In addition, vector correlations serve as a means to probe the K-mixing at the outer transition state, and measured v-j correlations in the photodissociation of thermal NCNO are presented.     

Quantum dynamical study of the O(1D)+HCl reaction employing three electronic state potential energy surfaces

Quantum dynamical calculations are reported for the title reaction, for both product arrangement channels and using potential energy surfaces corresponding to the three electronic states, 1 1A', 2 1A', and 1 1A", which correlate with both reactants and products. The calculations have been performed for J=0 using the time-dependent real wavepacket approach by Gray and Balint-Kurti [J. Chem. Phys. 108, 950 (1998)]. Reaction probabilities for both product arrangement channels on all three potential energy surfaces are presented for total energies between 0.1 and 1.1 eV. Product vibrational state distributions at two total energies, 0.522 and 0.722 eV, are also presented for both channels and all three electronic states. Product rotational quantum state distributions are presented for both product arrangement channels and all three electronic states for the first six product vibrational states.     

Bifurcations of dividing surfaces in chemical reactions

We study the dynamical behavior of the unstable periodic orbit (NHIM) associated to the non-return transition state (TS) of the H(2) + H collinear exchange reaction and their effects on the reaction probability. By means of the normal form of the Hamiltonian in the vicinity of the phase space saddle point, we obtain explicit expressions of the dynamical structures that rule the reaction. Taking advantage of the straightforward identification of the TS in normal form coordinates, we calculate the reaction probability as a function of the system energy in a more efficient way than the standard Monte Carlo method. The reaction probability values computed by both methods are not in agreement for high energies. We study by numerical continuation the bifurcations experienced by the NHIM as the energy increases. We find that the occurrence of new periodic orbits emanated from these bifurcations prevents the existence of a unique non-return TS, so that for high energies, the transition state theory cannot be longer applied to calculate the reaction probability.     

二氯亚甲基锗烯与乙烯环加成反应机理的理论研究

The mechanism of a cycloaddition reaction between singlet dichloromethylene germylene and ethylene has been investigated with B3LYP/6-31G＊ method, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. Energies for the involved conformations were calculated by CCSD（T）//B3LYP/6-31G＊ method. On the basis of the surface energy profile obtained with CCSD（T）// B3LYP/6-31G＊ method for the cycloaddition reaction between singlet dichloromethylene germylene and ethylene, it can be predicted that the dominant reaction pathway is that an intermediate INT1 is firstly formed between the two reactants through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 61.7 kJ/mol, and the intermediate INT1 then isomerizes to an active four-membered ring product P2.1 via a transition state TS2, an intermediate INT2 and a transition state TS2.1, in which energy barriers are 57.7 and 42.2 kJ/mol, respectively.     

Quantum mechanical calculation of energy dependence of OCl/OH product branching ratio and product quantum state distributions for the O(1D) + HCl reaction on all three contributing electronic state potential energy surfaces

OCl/OH product branching ratios are calculated as a function of total energy for the O( (1) D) + HCl reaction using quantum wavepacket methods. The calculations take account of reaction on all the three electronic state potential energy surfaces which correlate with both reactants and products. Our results show that reaction on the excited electronic state surfaces has a large effect on the branching ratio at higher energies and that these surfaces must therefore be fully taken into account. The calculations use the potential energy surfaces of Nanbu and co-workers. Product vibrational and rotational quantum state distributions are also calculated as a function of energy for both product channels. Inclusion of the excited electronic state potential energy surfaces improves the agreement of the predicted product vibrational quantum state distributions with experiment for the OH product channel. For OCl agreement between theory and experiment is retained for the vibrational quantum state distributions when the excited electronic state potential energy surfaces are included in the analysis. For the rotational state distributions good agreement between theory and experiment is maintained for energies at which experimental results are available. At higher energies, above 0.7 eV of total energy, the OCl rotational state distributions predicted using all three electronic state potential energy surfaces shift to markedly smaller rotational quantum numbers.     

Imaging the nonadiabatic dynamics of the CH3 + HCl reaction

LAB-frame velocity distributions of Cl-atoms produced in the photoinitiated reaction of CH(3) radicals with HCl have been measured for both the ground Cl ((2)P(3/2)) and excited Cl* ((2)P(1/2)) spin-orbit states using a DC slice velocity-map ion imaging technique. The similarity of these distributions, as well as the average internal excitation of methane co-products for both Cl and Cl* pathways, suggest that all the reactive flux proceeds through the same transition state on the ground potential energy surface (PES) and that the couplings which promote nonadiabatic transitions to the excited PES correlating to Cl* occur later in the exit channel, beyond the TS region. The nature of these couplings is discussed in light of initial vibrational excitation of CH(3) radicals as well as previously reported nonadiabatic reactivity in other polyatomic molecule reactions. Furthermore, the scattering of the reaction products, derived using the photoloc method, suggests that at the high collision energy of our experiment (E(coll) = 22.3 kcal mol(-1)), large impact parameter collisions are favoured with a reduced kinematic constraint on the internal excitation of the methane co-product.     

Role of entropy in increased rates of intramolecular reactions

The rates of intramolecular condensation of a series of monoesters of dicarboxylic acids have been shown to be highly dependent on the nature of the intervening groups. To understand the origin of this effect, we estimated DeltaS(NAC,S), the entropy difference between the ensemble of accessible ground state conformers and a single ground state conformer having transition-state-like geometry. DeltaS(NAC,S) differs from the activation entropy for the reaction by DeltaS(TS,NAC), the difference in vibrational entropy between the selected ground state conformer and the transition state. The estimated values of DeltaS(NAC,S) correlate well (R(2) = 0.96 and 0.73 using dielectric constant values of 80 and 1, respectively) with experimentally determined reaction rate constants. Normal-mode analysis performed on minimized ground state conformations of each molecule suggests that the change in vibrational entropy makes only a small contribution to the total activation entropy. These results indicate that the conformational entropy difference between the transition and the ground states contributes significantly to the free energy of activation.     

Theoretical study on the mechanism of cycloaddition reaction between dimethyl germylidene and formaldehyde

The cycloaddition mechanism of the reaction between singlet dimethyl germylidene and formaldehyde has been investigated with MP2/6-31G* method, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. The energies of the different conformations are calculated with CCSD (T)//MP2/6-31G* method. From the potential energy profile, we predict that the cycloaddition reaction between singlet dimethyl germylidene and formaldehyde has two dominant reaction pathways. First dominant reaction pathway consists of three steps: (1) the two reactants (R1, R2) firstly form an intermediate INT1a through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 43.0 kJ/mol; (2) INT1a then isomerizes to a four-membered ring compound P1 via a transition state TS1a with an energy barrier of 24.5 kJ/mol; (3) P1 further reacts with formaldehyde(R2) to form a germanic heterocyclic compound INT3, which is also a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 52.7 kJ/mol; Second dominant reaction pathway is as following: (1) the two reactants (R1, R2) firstly form a planar four-membered ring intermediate INT1b through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 50.8 kJ/mol; (2) INT1b then isomerizes to a twist four-membered ring intermediate INT1.1b via a transition state TS1b with an energy barrier of 4.3 kJ/mol; (3) INT1.1b further reacts with formaldehyde(R2) to form an intermediate INT4, which is also a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 46.9 kJ/mol; (4) INT4 isomerizes to a germanic bis-heterocyclic product P4 via a transition state TS4 with an energy barrier of 54.1 kJ/mol.     

Theoretical study of mechanism of cycloaddition reaction between dichloro‐germylene carbene (Cl2GeC:) and aldehyde

The mechanism of the cycloaddition reaction between singlet dichloro‐germylene carbene and aldehyde has been investigated with MP2/6‐31G* method, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. The energies of the different conformations are calculated by zero‐point energy and CCSD (T)//MP2/6‐31G* method. From the potential energy profile, it can be predicted that the reaction has two competitive dominant reaction pathways. The channel (A) consists of four steps: (1) the two reactants (R1, R2) first form an intermediate INT2 through a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 142.4 kJ/mol; (2) INT2 then isomerizes to a four‐membered ring compound P2 via a transition state TS2 with energy barrier of 8.4 kJ/mol; (3) P2 further reacts with aldehyde (R2) to form an intermediate INT3, which is also a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 9.2 kJ/mol; (4) INT3 isomerizes to a germanic bis‐heterocyclic product P3 via a transition state TS3 with energy barrier of 4.5 kJ/mol. The process of channel (B) is as follows: (1) the two reactants (R1, R2) first form an intermediate INT4 through a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 251.5 kJ/mol; (2) INT4 further reacts with aldehyde (R2) to form an intermediate INT5, which is also a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 173.5 kJ/mol; (3) INT5 then isomerizes to a germanic bis‐heterocyclic product P5 via a transition state TS5 with an energy barrier of 69.4 kJ/mol. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Theoretical study of mechanism of cycloaddition reaction between singlet dichlorosilylene carbene (Cl<Subscript>2</Subscript>Si=C:) and formaldehyde

The mechanism of the cycloaddition reaction between singlet dichlorosilylene carbene (Cl₂Si=C:) and formaldehyde has been investigated with MP2/6-31G* method, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. The energies of the different conformations are calculated by Zero-point energy and CCSD (T)//MP2/6-31G* method. From the potential energy profile, it can be predicted that the reaction has two competitive dominant reaction pathways. The first dominant reaction pathway consists of two steps: (1) the two reactants (R1, R2) firstly form a four-membered ring intermediate (INT4) through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 387.9 kJ/mol; (2) intermediate (INT4) then isomerizes to H-transfer product (P4.2) via a transition state (TS4.2) with energy barrier of 4.7 kJ/mol. The second dominant reaction pathway as follows: on the basis of intermediate (INT4) created between R1 and R2, intermediate (INT4) further reacts with formaldehyde (R2) to form the intermediate (INT5) through a barrier-free exothermic reaction of 158.3 kJ/mol. Then, intermediate (INT5) isomerizes to a silicic bis-heterocyclic product (P5) via a transition state (TS5), for which the barrier is 40.1 kJ/mol.     

Theoretical Study on Mechanism of Cycloadditional Reaction Between Dichloro-Germylidene and Formaldehyde

Mechanism of the cycloadditional reaction between singlet dichloro-germylidene and formaldehyde has been investigated with MP2/6-31G^* method, including geometry opti-mization, vibrational analysis and energies for the involved stationary points on the poten-tial energy surface. From the potential energy profile, we predict that the cycloaddition reaction between singlet dichloro-germylidene and formaldehyde has two competitive dom-inant reaction pathways, going with the formation of two side products (INT3 and INT4), simultaneously. Both of the two competitive reactions consist of two steps, two reactants firstly form a three-membered ring intermediate INT1 and a twisted four-membered ring intermediate INT2, respectively, both of which are barrier-free exothermic reactions of 41.5 and 72.3 kJ/mol; then INT1 isomerizes to a four-membered ring product P1 via transition state TS1, and INT2 isomerizes to a chlorine-transfer product P2 via transition state TS2,with the barriers of 2.9 and 0.3 kJ/mol, respectively. Simultaneously, P1 and INT2 further react with formaldehyde to form INT3 and INT4, respectively, which are also barrier-free exothermic reaction of 74.9 and 88.1 kJ/mol.     

Theoretical study of mechanism of forming a silapolycyclic compound between methylenesilylene and acetone

The mechanism of the cycloaddition reaction of forming a silapolycyclic compound between singlet methylenesilylene and acetone has been investigated with MP2/6‐31G* method, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. The energies of the different conformations are calculated by CCSD(T)//MP2/6‐31G* method. From the potential energy profile, we predict that the cycloaddition reaction of forming a silapolycyclic compound between singlet methylenesilylene and acetone has two competitive dominant reaction pathways. First dominant reaction pathway consists of four steps: (I) the two reactants (R1, R2) first form an intermediate (INT1) through a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 46.2 kJ/mol; (II) intermediate (INT1) then isomerizes to a planar four‐membered ring product (P3) via transition state (TS3) with an energy barrier of 47.1 kJ/mol; (III) planar four‐membered ring product (P3) further reacts with acetone (R2) to form an intermediate (INT4), which is also a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 40.0 kJ/mol; (IV) intermediate (INT4) isomerizes to a silapolycyclic compound (P4) via transition state (TS4) with an energy barrier of 57.0 kJ/mol. Second dominant reaction pathway consists of three steps: (I) the two reactants (R1, R2) first form a four‐membered ring intermediate (INT2) through a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 0.5 kJ/mol; (II) INT2 further reacts with acetone (R2) to form an intermediate (INT5), which is also a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 45.4 kJ/mol; (III) intermediate (INT5) isomerizes to a silapolycyclic compound (P5) via transition state (TS5) with an energy barrier of 49.3 kJ/mol. P4 and P5 are isomeric compounds. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2010     

Ab initio Study of Mechanism of Forming Germanic Hetero-Polycyclic Compound between Germylene Carbene (H2Ge=C: ) and Formaldehyde

The mechanism of the cycloaddition reaction of forming germanic hetero‐polycyclic compound between singlet germylene carbene and formaldehyde has been investigated with MP2/6‐31G* method, including geometry optimization and vibrational analysis for the involved stationary points on the potential energy surface. The energies of the different conformations are calculated by CCSD (T)//MP2/6‐31G* method. From the potential energy profile, we predict that the cycloaddition reaction of forming germanic hetero‐polycyclic compound between singlet germylene carbene and formaldehyde has two competitive dominant reaction pathways. First dominant reaction pathway consists of four steps: (1) the two reactants (R1, R2) first form an intermediate (INT1) through a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 117.5 kJ/mol; (2) intermediate (INT1) then isomerizes to a four‐membered ring compound (P2) via a transition state (TS2) with an energy barrier of 25.4 kJ/mol; (3) four‐membered ring compound (P2) further reacts with formaldehyde (R2) to form an intermediate (INT3), which is also a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 19.6 kJ/mol; (4) intermediate (INT3) isomerizes to a germanic bis‐heterocyclic product (P3) via a transition state (TS3) with an energy barrier of 5.8 kJ/mol. Second dominant reaction pathway is as follows: (1) the two reactants (R1, R2) first form an intermediate (INT4) through a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 197.3 kJ/mol; (2) intermediate (INT4) further reacts with formaldehyde (R2) to form an intermediate (INT5), which is also a barrier‐free exothermic reaction of 141.3 kJ/mol; (3) intermediate (INT5) then isomerizes to a germanic bis‐heterocyclic product (P5) via a transition state (TS5) with an energy barrier of 36.7 kJ/mol.     

Two-color visible/vacuum ultraviolet photoelectron imaging dynamics of Br2

An experimental two-color photoionization dynamics study of laser-excited Br2 molecules is presented, combining pulsed visible laser excitation and tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) synchrotron radiation with photoelectron imaging. The X 1Sigmag + -B 3Pi0+u transition in Br2 is excited at 527 nm corresponding predominantly to excitation of the v' = 28 vibrational level in the B 3Pi0+u state. Tunable VUV undulator radiation in the energy range of 8.40-10.15 eV is subsequently used to ionize the excited molecules to the X 2Pi32,12 state of the ion, and the ionic ground state is probed by photoelectron imaging. Similar experiments are performed using single-photon synchrotron ionization in the photon energy range of 10.75-12.50 eV without any laser excitation. Photoelectron kinetic energy distributions are extracted from the photoelectron images. In the case of two-color photoionization using resonant excitation of the intermediate B 3Pi0+u state, a broad distribution of photoelectron kinetic energies is observed, and in some cases even a bimodal distribution, which depends on the VUV photon energy. In contrast, for single-photon ionization, a single nearly Gaussian-shaped distribution is observed, which shifts to higher energy with photon energy. Simulated spectra based on Franck-Condon factors for the transitions Br2(X 1Sigmag+, v" = 0)-Br2 +(X 2Pi12,32, v+) and Br2(B 3Pi0+u, v' = 28)-Br2 +(X 2Pi12,32, v+) are generated. Comparison of these calculated spectra with the measured images suggests that the differences in the kinetic energy distributions for the two ionization processes reflect the different extensions of the vibrational wave functions in the v" = 0 electronic ground state (X 1Sigmag+) versus the electronically and vibrationally excited state (B 3Pi0+u, v' = 28).     

Will water act as a photocatalyst for cluster phase chemical reactions? Vibrational overtone-induced dehydration reaction of methanediol

The possibility of water catalysis in the vibrational overtone-induced dehydration reaction of methanediol is investigated using ab initio dynamical simulations of small methanediol-water clusters. Quantum chemistry calculations employing clusters with one or two water molecules reveal that the barrier to dehydration is lowered by over 20 kcal/mol because of hydrogen-bonding at the transition state. Nevertheless, the simulations of the reaction dynamics following OH-stretch excitation show little catalytic effect of water and, in some cases, even show an anticatalytic effect. The quantum yield for the dehydration reaction exhibits a delayed threshold effect where reaction does not occur until the photon energy is far above the barrier energy. Unlike thermally induced reactions, it is argued that competition between reaction and the irreversible dissipation of photon energy may be expected to raise the dynamical threshold for the reaction above the transition state energy. It is concluded that quantum chemistry calculations showing barrier lowering are not sufficient to infer water catalysis in photochemical reactions, which instead require dynamical modeling.