Mechanism and kinetics of the atmospheric degradation of perfluoropolymethylisopropyl ether by OH radical: a theoretical study

In the present work, the mechanism and kinetics of the reaction of perfluoropolymethylisopropyl ether (PFPMIE) with OH radical are studied. The reaction between PFPMIE and OH radical is initiated through breaking of C–C or C–O bond of PFPMIE. These reactions lead to the formation of COF₂ molecules and alkyl radical. The pathways corresponding to the reaction between PFPMIE and OH radical have been modelled using density functional theory methods M06-2X and MPW1K with 6-31G(d,p) basis set. It is found that the C–C bond breaking reaction is most favourable than the C–O bond breaking reaction. The subsequent reactions of the alkyl radicals, formed from the C–C bond breaking reactions, are studied in detail. The rate constant for the initial oxidation reactions is calculated using canonical variational transition state theory with small curvature tunnelling corrections over the temperature range of 278–350 K. From the calculated reaction, potential energy surface and rate constant, the lifetime and global warming potential of PFPMIE are studied.     

Atmospheric oxidation mechanism of naphthalene initiated by OH radical. A theoretical study

The atmospheric oxidation mechanism of naphthalene (Nap) initiated by the OH radical is investigated using density functional theory at B3LYP and BB1K levels. The initial step is dominated by OH addition to the C(1)-position of Nap, forming radical C(10)H(8)-1-OH (R1), followed by the O(2) additions to the C(2) position to form peroxy radical R1-2OO, or by the hydrogen abstraction by O(2) to form 1-naphthol. In the atmosphere, R1-2OO will react with NO to form R1-2O, undergo intramolecular hydrogen transfer from -OH to -OO to form R1-P2O1 radicals, or possibly undergo ring-closure to R1-29OO bi-cyclic radical; while the formation of other bi-cyclic intermediate radicals is negligible because of the extremely high Gibbs energy barriers of >100 kJ mol(-1) (relative to R1+O(2)). The mechanism is different from the oxidation mechanism of benzene, where the bi-cyclic intermediates play an important role. Radicals R1-P2O1 will dissociate to 2-formylcinnamaldehyde, while R1-2O will be transformed to stable products C(10)H(6)O(3) via epoxide-like intermediates. A few reaction pathways suggested in previous experimental studies are found to be invalid.     

Experimental and theoretical study of the reaction of OH radical with sabinene

The gas phase sabinene + OH reaction is studied both experimentally and theoretically. Product yields from the reaction of sabinene with OH radicals have been measured in the absence of NOx in the UCC chamber (Cork, Ireland) and in the presence of NOx in the LISA chamber. Three primary carbonyl compounds were observed and quantified: acetone in [(24 +/- 6)%], formaldehyde in [(25 +/- 6)%] and sabinaketone in [(20 +/- 6)%]. The simultaneous quantification of these compounds is one of the major results of this work. The mechanism of product formation for this reaction has been studied using the quantum chemical DFT-B3LYP (6-31G(d,p) method. According to these calculations, the H-atom abstraction channel from sabinene by OH in the initial oxidation step may be taken into account to explain the acetone production. Sabinaketone and formaldehyde are mainly products of the addition channels of OH on the -C=CH2 double bond of sabinene. This is the first theoretical work on the title reaction.     

A combined experimental and theoretical study of the reaction between methylglyoxal and OH/OD radical: OH regeneration

Experimental studies have been conducted to determine the rate coefficient and mechanism of the reaction between methylglyoxal (CH(3)COCHO, MGLY) and the OH radical over a wide range of temperatures (233-500 K) and pressures (5-300 Torr). The rate coefficient is pressure independent with the following temperature dependence: k(3)(T) = (1.83 +/- 0.48) x 10(-12) exp((560 +/- 70)/T) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) (95% uncertainties). Addition of O(2) to the system leads to recycling of OH. The mechanism was investigated by varying the experimental conditions ([O(2)], [MGLY], temperature and pressure), and by modelling based on a G3X potential energy surface, rovibrational prior distribution calculations and master equation RRKM calculations. The mechanism can be described as follows: Addition of oxygen to the system shows that process (4) is fast and that CH(3)COCO completely dissociates. The acetyl radical formed from reaction (4) reacts with oxygen to regenerate OH radicals (5a). However, a significant fraction of acetyl radical formed by reaction (R4) is sufficiently energised to dissociate further to CH(3) + CO (R4b). Little or no pressure quenching of reaction (R4b) was observed. The rate coefficient for OD + MGLY was measured as k(9)(T) = (9.4 +/- 2.4) x 10(-13) exp((780 +/- 70)/T) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) over the temperature range 233-500 K. The reaction shows a noticeable inverse (k(H)/k(D) < 1) kinetic isotope effect below room temperature and a slight normal kinetic isotope effect (k(H)/k(D) > 1) at high temperature. The potential atmospheric implications of this work are discussed.     

Mechanism of cysteine oxidation by a hydroxyl radical: a theoretical study.

Cysteine oxidation by HO(.) was studied at a high level of ab initio theory in both gas phase and aqueous solution. Potential energy surface scans in the gas phase performed for the model system methanethiol+HO(.) indicate that the reactants can form two intermediate states: a sulfur-oxygen adduct and a hydrogen bound reactant complex. However these states appear to play a minor role in the reaction mechanism as long as they are fast dissociating states. Thus the main reaction channel predicted at the QCISD(T)/6-311+G(2df,2pd) level of theory is the direct hydrogen atom abstraction. The reaction mechanism is not perturbed by solvation which was found to induce only small variations in the Gibbs free energy of different reactant configurations. The larger size reactant system cysteine+HO* was treated by the integrated molecular orbital+molecular orbital (IMOMO) hybrid method mixing the QCISD(T)/6-311+G(2df,2pd) and the UMP2/6-311+G(d,p) levels of theory. The calculated potential energy, enthalpy, and Gibbs free energy barriers are slightly different from those of methanethiol. The method gave a rate constant for cysteine oxidation in aqueous solution, k=2.4 x 10(9) mol(-1) dm(3) s(-1), which is in good agreement with the experimental rate constant. Further analysis showed that the reaction is not very sensitive to hydrogen bonding and electrical polarity of the molecular environment.     

Hydrogen-bonded clusters of hydroperoxyl radical with ammonia: a theoretical study

Ab initio calculations at MP2/6-311++G(d,p) computational level were used to analyze the interaction between a molecule of the hydroperoxyl radical with 1 up to 4 molecules of ammonia. Three minima were found for 1:2 and 1:4 complexes of HOO and NH₃. Two complexes were located as minima on the potential energy surface of 1:3 complexes. Red shifts of the OH stretching frequency upon complex formation in the range between 560 and 1,116 cm⁻¹ are predicted. Cooperative effect in terms of stabilization energy is calculated for the studied clusters. The cooperative effect is increased with the increasing size of studied clusters. The Quantum Theory Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) theory was also applied to explain the nature of the complexes.     

A theoretical study on the destruction of typical biomass tar components (toluene,phenol and naphthalene) by OH radical

The detailed reaction mechanism of OH radical destroying toluene, phenol and naphthalene was studied through quantum chemical calculations in the research. Theoretical results indicate that for phenol and toluene, OH radical preferentially attack the ortho C atom due to the functional group on the benzene ring. But for naphthalene, OH radical preferentially attack the para-position C atoms because of its inherent benzo structure. To further study of the kinetics, the rate constant was calculated by the transition state theory. The comparison shows that the theoretical reaction rate constants for the degradation of tar by the OH radical were consistent with those obtained from literature experiments. And the rate constant of destructing naphthalene by OH radical was larger than that of destructing toluene, but lower than that of destructing phenol. The degradation sequence of OH radical to tar is: phenol ​> ​naphthalene ​> ​toluene. Because of the activation of hydroxyl group in benzene ring, phenol is the most easily attacked and destroyed by OH radical. The theoretical results can provide theoretical basis and data reference for further research on the removal of biomass tar and aromatics by OH radical.     

Atmospheric reaction of the HOSO radical with NO2: a theoretical study

The gas-phase reaction between HOSO and NO(2) was examined using density functional theory. Geometry optimizations and frequency computations were performed at the B3LYP/6-311++G(2df,2pd) level of theory for all minimum species and transition states. The ground-state potential energy surface, including activation energies and enthalpies, were calculated using the ab initio CBS-QB3 composite method. The results suggest that the addition of HOSO and NO(2) leads to two possible intermediates, HOS(O)NO(2) and HOS(O)ONO, without any energy barrier. The HOS(O)NO(2) easily decomposes into HONO + SO(2) through the low energy product complex HONO···SO(2), whereas the HOS(O)ONO dissociates to HOSO(2) + NO products. This latter dissociation is preferred from the isomerization of the HOS(O)ONO to HOS(NO)O(2). Also, HOS(O)NO(2) isomerization to HOS(O)ONO is hindered due to the presence of a large energy barrier. From the thermodynamic aspect, the main products in the title reaction are HONO + SO(2), whereas HOSO(2) + NO are expected as a minor products.     

Structure of the HOOO radical in liquid water: a theoretical study.

The HOOO radical is supposed to play a role in ozone chemistry, both in the gas phase and aqueous media. We discuss the influence of the solvent on the electronic and geometrical structure of this radical using density functional and high-level ab initio calculations together with continuum, discrete, and discrete-continuum solvent models. Solute-solvent electrostatic interactions are shown to be fundamental, and lead to a noticeable stabilization of the radical, which should adopt a trans conformation in aqueous media. In fact, no energy minimum for the cis conformation is predicted in these conditions.     

Overtone-induced dissociation and isomerization dynamics of the hydroxymethyl radical (CH2OH and CD2OH). I. A theoretical study

The dissociation of the hydroxymethyl radical, CH(2)OH, and its isotopolog, CD(2)OH, following the excitation of high OH stretch overtones is studied by quasi-classical molecular dynamics calculations using a global potential energy surface (PES) fitted to ab initio calculations. The PES includes CH(2)OH and CH(3)O minima, dissociation products, and all relevant barriers. Its analysis shows that the transition states for OH bond fission and isomerization are both very close in energy to the excited vibrational levels reached in recent experiments and involve significant geometry changes relative to the CH(2)OH equilibrium structure. The energies of key stationary points are refined using high-level electronic structure calculations. Vibrational energies and wavefunctions are computed by coupled anharmonic vibrational calculations. They show that high OH-stretch overtones are mixed with other modes. Consequently, trajectory calculations carried out at energies about ~3000 cm(-1) above the barriers reveal that despite initial excitation of the OH stretch, the direct OH bond fission is relatively slow (10 ps) and a considerable fraction of the radicals undergoes isomerization to the methoxy radical. The computed dissociation energies are: D(0)(CH(2)OH → CH(2)O + H) = 10,188 cm(-1), D(0)(CD(2)OH → CD(2)O + H) = 10,167 cm(-1), D(0)(CD(2)OH → CHDO + D) = 10,787 cm(-1). All are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. For CH(2)OH, the barriers for the direct OH bond fission and isomerization are: 14,205 and 13,839 cm(-1), respectively.     

Pressure-dependent OH yields in alkene + HO2 reactions: a theoretical study

The major bimolecular product of alkyl + O(2) reactions is alkene + hydroperoxyl radical (HO(2)), but in the reverse direction, the reactants are reformed to a very limited extent only. The most important products of the alkene + HO(2) reactions are alkylperoxy radical (ROO(?)), hydroxyl radical (OH) + cyclic ether, and the corresponding hydroperoxyalkyl ((?)QOOH) species. Moreover, abstraction of allylic hydrogens can compete with the addition, further complicating the possible outcome of this reaction type and its effect on low-temperature combustion chemistry. In this paper, six alkene + HO(2) reactions and the reaction between an unsaturated oxygenate and HO(2) are studied based on previously established potential energy surfaces. The studied unsaturated compounds are ethene, propene, 1-butene, trans-2-butene, isobutene, cyclohexene, and vinyl alcohol. Using multiwell master equations, temperature- (300-1200 K) and pressure-dependent rate coefficients and branching fractions are calculated for these reactions. The importance of this reaction type for the combustion of unsaturated compounds is also assessed, and we show that, to get reliable results, it is important to include the pressure-dependence of the rate coefficients in the calculations.     

Kinetics of hydrogen abstraction reaction between trifluoromethyl formate and OH radical: A theoretical investigation

Kinetics and mechanism of the hydrogen abstraction reaction between trifluoromethyl formate, CF₃OCHO, and OH radical have been investigated by using ab initio molecular orbital theory up to G2(MP2) level. The hydrogen abstraction rate constant has been calculated for the first time over a temperature range of 250–450 K by using standard transition state theory including the tunneling correction. Arrhenius parameters of the reaction have been estimated from the temperature dependence of the calculated rate constant. The calculated value for the rate constant (2.0 × 10^?14 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1) at 298 K is found to be in very good agreement with the recent experimental results. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 34: 500–507, 2002     

Reactions of OH with butene isomers: measurements of the overall rates and a theoretical study

Reactions of hydroxyl (OH) radicals with 1-butene (k(1)), trans-2-butene (k(2)), and cis-2-butene (k(3)) were studied behind reflected shock waves over the temperature range 880-1341 K and at pressures near 2.2 atm. OH radicals were produced by shock-heating tert-butyl hydroperoxide, (CH(3))(3)-CO-OH, and monitored by narrow-line width ring dye laser absorption of the well-characterized R(1)(5) line of the OH A-X (0, 0) band near 306.7 nm. OH time histories were modeled using a comprehensive C(5) oxidation mechanism, and rate constants for the reaction of OH with butene isomers were extracted by matching modeled and measured OH concentration time histories. We present the first high-temperature measurement of OH + cis-2-butene and extend the temperature range of the only previous high-temperature study for both 1-butene and trans-2-butene. With the potential energy surface calculated using CCSD(T)/6-311++G(d,p)//QCISD/6-31G(d), the rate constants and branching fractions for the H-abstraction channels of the reaction of OH with 1-butene were calculated in the temperature range 300-1500 K. Corrections for variational and tunneling effects as well as hindered-rotation treatments were included. The calculations are in good agreement with current and previous experimental data and with a recent theoretical study.     

Reaction mechanism between carbonyl oxide and hydroxyl radical: a theoretical study

The reaction mechanism of carbonyl oxide with hydroxyl radical was investigated by using CASSCF, B3LYP, QCISD, CASPT2, and CCSD(T) theoretical approaches with the 6-311+G(d,p), 6-311+G(2df, 2p), and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets. This reaction involves the formation of H2CO + HO2 radical in a process that is computed to be exothermic by 57 kcal/mol. However, the reaction mechanism is very complex and begins with the formation of a pre-reactive hydrogen-bonded complex and follows by the addition of HO radical to the carbon atom of H2COO, forming the intermediate peroxy-radical H2C(OO)OH before producing formaldehyde and hydroperoxy radical. Our calculations predict that both the pre-reactive hydrogen-bonded complex and the transition state of the addition process lie energetically below the enthalpy of the separate reactants (DeltaH(298K) = -6.1 and -2.5 kcal/mol, respectively) and the formation of the H2C(OO)OH adduct is exothermic by about 74 kcal/mol. Beyond this addition process, further reaction mechanisms have also been investigated, which involve the abstraction of a hydrogen of carbonyl oxide by HO radical, but the computed activation barriers suggest that they will not contribute to the gas-phase reaction of H2COO + HO.     

Optical study of OH radical in a wire-plate pulsed corona discharge

In this study, the emission spectra of OH (A2sigma --> X2pi, 0-0) emitted from the high-voltage pulsed corona discharge (HVPCD) of N2 and H2O mixture gas and humid air in a wire-plate reactor were successfully recorded against a severe electromagnetic interference coming from HVPCD at one atmosphere. The relative vibrational populations and the vibrational temperature of N2 (C, v') were determined. The emission spectra of the deltaupsilon = +1 (1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3) vibration transition band of N2 (C3pi(u) --> B3pi(g)) is simulated through gauss distribution. The emission intensity of OH (A2sigma --> X2pi, 0-0) has been exactly gotten by subtracting the emission intensity of the deltaupsilon = +1 vibration transition band of N2 (C3pi(u) --> B3pi(g)) from the overlapping spectra. The relative population of OH (A2sigma) has been obtained by the emission intensity of OH (A2sigma --> X2pi, 0-0) and Einstein's transition probability. The influences of pulsed peak voltage and pulse repetition rate on the relative population of OH (A2sigma) radicals in N2 and H2O mixture gas and humid air are investigated separately. It is found that the relative population of OH (A2sigma) rises linearly with increasing the applied peak voltage and the pulse repetition rate. When the oxygen is added in N2 and H2O mixture gas, the relative population of OH (A2sigma) radicals decreases exponentially with increasing the added oxygen. The main involved physicochemical processes have also been discussed.     

Trapping of a tert-adamantyl peroxyl radical in the gas phase

A bridgehead adamantyl peroxyl radical has been prepared and isolated in the gas phase by the reaction of a distonic radical anion with dioxygen in a quadrupole ion-trap mass spectrometer.     

Reaction mechanism of ferulic acid scavenging OH and NO2 radicals: a theoretical study

Structural Chemistry - As a derivative of cinnamic acid, ferulic acid (FA) is a bio-active ingredient of many foods and is considered to be a good natural antioxidant. A theoretical study on the...     

The o-, m-, and p-benzyne radical cations: a theoretical study

On the basis of the CASPT2 (multiconfigurational second-order perturbation theory) geometry optimization calculations, the ground states of the o-C(6)H(4)(+) (C(2v)), m-C(6)H(4)(+) (C(2v)), and p-C(6)H(4)(+) (D(2h)) radical cations were determined to be 1 (2)B(1), 1 (2)A(2), and 1 (2)B(1u), respectively. For o-C(6)H(4)(+) and m-C(6)H(4)(+), the first excited states (1 (2)A(2) and 1 (2)A(1), respectively) lie very close to the respective ground states. The small distance value of 1.419 A between the two dehydrocarbons in the ground-state geometry of m-C(6)H(4)(+) indicates that there is a real chemical bond between the two dehydrocarbons (the distance in the 1 (2)A(1) geometry of m-C(6)H(4)(+) is very long as in the m-C(6)H(4) molecule). The (U)B3LYP isotropic proton hfcc (hyperfine coupling constant) calculation results imply that the ground and first excited states of o-C(6)H(4)(+) will have similar ESR spectrum patterns while the ground and first excited states of m-C(6)H(4)(+) will have completely different ESR spectrum patterns.