Chemically activated reactions on the C7H5 energy surface: propargyl + diacetylene, i-C5H3 + acetylene, and n-C5H3 + acetylene

This study uses computational chemistry and statistical reaction rate theory to investigate the chemically activated reaction of diacetylene (butadiyne, C(4)H(2)) with the propargyl radical (C˙H(2)CCH) and the reaction of acetylene (C(2)H(2)) with the i-C(5)H(3) (CH(2)CCCC˙H) and n-C(5)H(3) (CHCC˙HCCH) radicals. A detailed G3SX-level C(7)H(5) energy surface demonstrates that the C(3)H(3) + C(4)H(2) and C(5)H(3) + C(2)H(2) addition reactions proceed with moderate barriers, on the order of 10 to 15 kcal mol(-1), and form activated open-chain C(7)H(5) species that can isomerize to the fulvenallenyl radical with the highest barrier still significantly below the entrance channel energy. Higher-energy pathways are available leading to other C(7)H(5) isomers and to a number of C(7)H(4) species + H. Rate constants in the large multiple-well (15) multiple-channel (30) chemically activated system are obtained from a stochastic solution of the one-dimensional master equation, with RRKM theory for microcanonical rate constants. The dominant products of the C(4)H(2) + C(3)H(3) reaction at combustion-relevant temperatures and pressures are i-C(5)H(3) + C(2)H(2) and CH(2)CCHCCCCH + H, along with several quenched C(7)H(5) intermediate species below 1500 K. The major products in the n-C(5)H(3) + C(2)H(2) reaction are i-C(5)H(3) + C(2)H(2) and a number of C(7)H(4) species + H, with C(7)H(5) radical stabilization at lower temperatures. The i-C(5)H(3) + C(2)H(2) reaction predominantly leads to C(7)H(4) + H and to stabilized C(7)H(5) products. The title reactions may play an important role in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) formation in combustion systems. The C(7)H(5) potential energy surface developed here also provides insight into several other important reacting gas-phase systems relevant to combustion and astrochemistry, including C(2)H + the C(3)H(4) isomers propyne and allene, benzyne + CH, benzene + C((3)P), and C(7)H(5) radical decomposition, for which some preliminary analysis is presented.     

Unimolecular dissociation of the propargyl radical intermediate of the CH+C2H2 and C+C2H3 reactions

This paper examines the unimolecular dissociation of propargyl (HCCCH2) radicals over a range of internal energies to probe the CH+HCCH and C+C2H3 bimolecular reactions from the radical intermediate to products. The propargyl radical was produced by 157 nm photolysis of propargyl chloride in crossed laser-molecular beam scattering experiments. The H-loss and H2 elimination channels of the nascent propargyl radicals were observed. Detection of stable propargyl radicals gave an experimental determination of 71.5 (+5-10) kcal/mol as the lowest barrier to dissociation of the radical. This barrier is significantly lower than predictions for the lowest barrier to the radical's dissociation and also lower than calculated overall reaction enthalpies. Products from both H2+HCCC and H+C3H2 channels were detected at energies lower than what has been theoretically predicted. An HCl elimination channel and a minor C-H fission channel were also observed in the photolysis of propargyl chloride.     

The benzene+OH potential energy surface: intermediates and transition states

The potential energy surface for the interaction between benzene and hydroxyl radical is studied in detail using quantum mechanical methods, with a particular focus on the hydrogen abstraction pathway. Geometric parameters are optimized using a variety of density functional methods as well as perturbation theory. Energies are refined using coupled cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. At our most reliable level of theory, complexation energies are found to be (with zero-point corrected energies in parentheses) 3.7 (2.8) kcal/mol for the benzene-hydroxyl radical complex and 2.9 (-1.7) kcal/mol for the phenyl radical-water complex. The barrier to H abstraction lies 6.5 (4.2) kcal/mol above the infinitely separated benzene and hydroxyl radical monomers.     

Ab initio study of C4H3 potential energy surface and reaction of ground‐state carbon atom with propargyl radical

The potential energy surface for the reaction of the ground‐state carbon atom [C(³P_j)] with the propargyl radical [HCCCH₂(X²B₁)] is investigated using the G2M(RCC,MP2) method. Numerous local minima and transition states for various isomerization and dissociation pathways of doublet C₄H₃ are studied. The results show that C(³P_j) attacks the π system of the propargyl radical at the acetylenic carbon atom and yields the n‐C₄H₃(²A′) isomer i3 after an 1,2‐H atom shift. This intermediate either splits a hydrogen atom and produces singlet diacetylene, [HCCCCH ( p1 )+H] or undergoes (to a minor amount) a 1,2‐H migration to i‐C₄H₃(²A′) i5 , which in turn dissociates to p1 plus an H atom. Alternatively, atomic carbon adds to the triple C?C bond of the propargyl radical to form a three‐member ring C₄H₃ isomer i1 , which ring opens to i3 . Diacetylene is concluded to be a nearly exclusive product of the C(³P_j)+HCCCH₂ reaction. At the internal energy of 10.0 kcal/mol above the reactant level, Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus calculations show about 91.7% of HCCCCH comes from fragmentation of i3 and 8.3% from i5 . The other possible minor channels are identified as HCCCC+H₂ and C₂H+HCCH. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 22: 1522–1535, 2001     

Quasiclassical trajectory calculations of the reaction C+C2H2-->l-C3H, c-C3H+H, C3+H2 using full-dimensional triplet and singlet potential energy surfaces

Full-dimensional, density functional theory (B3LYP/6-311g(d,p))-based potential energy surfaces (PESs) are reported and used in quasi-classical calculations of the reaction of C with C(2)H(2). For the triplet case, the PES spans the region of the reactants, the complex region (with numerous minima and saddle points) and the products, linear(l)-C(3)H+H, cyclic(c)-C(3)H+H and c-(3)C(3)+H(2). For the singlet case, the PES describes the complex region and products l-C(3)H+H, c-C(3)H+H and l-(1)C(3)+H(2). The PESs are invariant under permutation of like nuclei and are fit to tens of thousands of electronic energies. Energies and harmonic frequencies of the PESs agree well the DFT ones for all stationary points and for the reactant and the products. Dynamics calculations on the triplet PES find both l-C(3)H and c-C(3)H products, with l-C(3)H being dominant at the energies considered. Limited unimolecular reaction dynamics on the singlet PES find both products in comparable amounts as well as the C(3)+H(2) product.     

Infrared spectroscopy of gas phase C3H5+ : the allyl and 2-propenyl cations

C3H5+ cations are probed with infrared photodissociation spectroscopy in the 800-3500 cm(-1) region using the method of rare gas tagging. The ions and their complexes with Ar or N2 are produced in a pulsed electric discharge supersonic expansion cluster source. Two structural isomers are characterized, namely, the allyl (CH2CHCH2+) and 2-propenyl (CH3CCH2+) cations. The infrared spectrum of the allyl cation confirms previous theoretical and condensed phase studies of the C(2nu) charge delocalized, resonance-stabilized structure. The 2-propenyl cation spectrum is consistent with a C(s) symmetry structure having a nearly linear CCC backbone and a hyperconjugatively stabilizing methyl group.     

Association rate constants for reactions between resonance-stabilized radicals: C3H3 + C3H3, C3H3 + C3H5, and C3H5 + C3H5

Reactions between resonance-stabilized radicals play an important role in combustion chemistry. The theoretical prediction of rate coefficients and product distributions for such reactions is complicated by the fact that the initial complex-formation steps and some dissociation steps are barrierless. In this paper direct variable reaction coordinate transition state theory (VRC-TST) is used to predict accurately the association rate constants for the self and cross reactions of propargyl and allyl radicals. For each reaction, a set of multifaceted dividing surfaces is used to account for the multiple possible addition channels. Because of their resonant nature the geometric relaxation of the radicals is important. Here, the effect of this relaxation is explicitly calculated with the UB3LYP/cc-pvdz method for each mutual orientation encountered in the configurational integrals over the transition state dividing surfaces. The final energies are obtained from CASPT2/cc-pvdz calculations with all pi-orbitals in the active space. Evaluations along the minimum energy path suggest that basis set corrections are negligible. The VRC-TST approach was also used to calculate the association rate constant and the corresponding number of states for the C(6)H(5) + H --> C(6)H(6) exit channel of the C(3)H(3) + C(3)H(3) reaction, which is also barrierless. For this reaction, the interaction energies were evaluated with the CASPT2(2e,2o)/cc-pvdz method and a 1-D correction is included on the basis of CAS+1+2+QC/aug-cc-pvtz calculations for the CH(3) + H reference system. For the C(3)H(3) + C(3)H(3) reaction, the VRC-TST results for the energy and angular momentum resolved numbers of states in the entrance channels and in the C(6)H(5) + H exit channel are incorporated in a master equation simulation to determine the temperature and pressure dependence of the phenomenological rate coefficients. The rate constants for the C(3)H(3) + C(3)H(3) and C(3)H(5) + C(3)H(5) self-reactions compare favorably with the available experimental data. To our knowledge there are no experimental rate data for the C(3)H(3) + C(3)H(5) reaction.     

An ab initio based global potential energy surface describing CH5+ --> CH3+ + H2

A full-dimensional, ab initio based potential energy surface (PES) for CH(5)(+), which can describe dissociation is reported. The PES is a precise fit to 36173 coupled-cluster [CCSD(T)] calculations of electronic energies done using an aug-cc-pVTZ basis. The fit uses a polynomial basis that is invariant with respect to permutation of the five H atoms, and thus describes all 120 equivalent minima. The rms fitting error is 78.1 cm(-1) for the entire data set of energies up to 30,000 cm(-1) and a normal-mode analysis of CH(5)(+) also verifies the accuracy of the fit. Two saddle points have been located on the surface as well and compared with previous theoretical work. The PES dissociates correctly to the fragments CH(3)(+) + H(2) and the equilibrium geometry and normal-mode analyses of these fragments are also presented. Diffusion Monte Carlo calculations are done for the zero-point energies of CH(5)(+) (and some isotopologs) as well as for the separated fragments of CH(5)(+), CH(3)(+) + H(2) and those of CH(4)D(+), CH(3)(+) + HD and CH(2)D(+) + H(2). Values of D(0) are reported for these dissociations. A molecular dynamics calculation of CH(4)D(+) dissociation at one total energy is also performed to both validate the applicability of the PES for dynamics studies as well as to test a simple classical statistical prediction of the branching ratio of the dissociation products.     

Potential energy surface and MULTIMODE vibrational analysis of C2H3+

A full dimensional, ab initio-based semiglobal potential energy surface for C(2)H(3) (+) is reported. The ab initio electronic energies for this molecule are calculated using the spin-restricted, coupled cluster method restricted to single and double excitations with triples corrections [RCCSD(T)]. The RCCSD(T) method is used with the correlation-consistent polarized valence triple-zeta basis augmented with diffuse functions (aug-cc-pVTZ). The ab initio potential energy surface is represented by a many-body (cluster) expansion, each term of which uses functions that are fully invariant under permutations of like nuclei. The fitted potential energy surface is validated by comparing normal mode frequencies at the global minimum and secondary minimum with previous and new direct ab initio frequencies. The potential surface is used in vibrational analysis using the "single-reference" and "reaction-path" versions of the code MULTIMODE.     

Dissociation of benzene dication [C6H6]2+: exploring the potential energy surface

The singlet potential energy surface for the dissociation of benzene dication has been explored, and its three major dissociation channels have been studied: C6H6(2+) --> C3H3(+) + C3H3(+), C4H3(+) + C2H3(+), and C5H3(+) + CH3(+). The calculated energetics suggest that the products will be formed with considerable translational energy because of the Coulomb repulsion between the charged fragments. The calculated energy release in the three channels shows a qualitative agreement with the experimentally observed kinetic energy release. The formation of certain intermediates is found to be common to the three dissociation channels.     

Kinetic isotope effects for the H2 + C2H ↔ C2H2 + H reaction based on the ab initio calculations and a global potential energy surface

In the present paper, kinetic isotope effects of the title reaction are studied with canonical variational transition state theory on the modified Wang Bowman (MWB) potential energy surface (PES) (Chem Phys Lett 2005, 409, 249) and the ab initio calculations at the quadratic configuration interaction (QCISD (T, full))/aug‐cc‐pVTZ//QCISD (full)/cc‐pVTZ level. The calculated rate constants for the isotopic variants of this title reaction on the MWB PES have good agreement with those of the present ab initio calculations over the temperature range of 20–5000 K for the forward reactions and 800–5000 K for the reverse reactions, respectively. In particular, the forward rate constants for the title reaction and its isotopically substituted reactions have negative temperature dependences at about 40 K. Rate expressions are presented for all the studied reactions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 42: 289–298, 2010     

An improved potential energy surface for the F+H2 reaction

A new ground state potential energy surface has been developed for the F+H₂ reaction. Using the UCCSD(T) method, ab initio calculations were performed for 786 geometries located mainly in the exit channel of the reaction. The new data was used to correct exit channel errors that have become apparent in the potential energy surface of Stark and Werner [J. Chem. Phys. 104 (1996) 6515]. While the entrance channel and saddlepoint properties of the Stark–Werner surface are unchanged on the new potential, the exit channel behavior is more satisfactory. The exothermicity on the new surface is much closer to the experimental value. The new surface also greatly diminishes the exit channel van der Waals well that was too pronounced on the Stark–Werner surface. Several preliminary dynamical scattering calculations were carried out using the new surface for total angular momentum equal to zero for F+H₂ and F+HD. It is found that gross features of the reaction dynamics are quite similar to those predicted by the Stark–Werner surface, in particular the reactive resonance for F+HD and F+H₂ survive. However, the most of the exit channel van der Waals resonances disappear on the new surface. It is predicted that the differential cross-sections at low collision energy for the F+H₂ reaction may be drastically modified from the predictions based on the Stark–Werner surface.     

An eight-degree-of-freedom, time-dependent quantum dynamics study for the H2+C2H reaction on a new modified potential energy surface

An eight-dimensional time-dependent quantum dynamics wave packet approach is performed for the study of the H2+C2H-->H+C2H2 reaction system on a new modified potential energy surface (PES) [L.-P. Ju et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 409, 249 (2005)]. This new potential energy surface is obtained by modifying Wang and Bowman's old PES [J. Chem. Phys. 101, 8646 (1994)] based on the new ab initio calculation. This new modified PES has a much lower transition state barrier height at 2.29 kcal/mol than Wang and Bowman's old PES at 4.3 kcal/mol. This study shows that the reactivity for this diatom-triatom reaction system is enhanced by vibrational excitations of H2, whereas the vibrational excitations of C2H only have a small effect on the reactivity. Furthermore, the bending excitations of C2H, compared to the ground state reaction probability, hinder the reactivity. The comparison of the rate constant between this calculation and experimental results agrees with each other very well. This comparison indicates that the new modified PES corrects the large barrier height problem in Wang and Bowman's old PES.     

Ab initio potential energy surfaces of the ion-molecule reaction: C2H2 + O+

High level ab initio calculations using complete active space self-consistent field and multi reference single and double excitation configuration interaction methods with cc-pVDZ (correlation consistent polarized valence double zeta) and cc-pVTZ (triple zeta) basis sets have been performed to elucidate the reaction mechanism of the ion-molecule reaction, C2H2(1Sigmag+) + O+(4S), for which collision experiment has been performed by Chiu et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 109, 5300 (1998)]. The minor low-energy process leading to the weak spin-forbidden product C2H2+ (2Piu) + O(1D) has been studied previously and will not be discussed here. The major pathways to form charge-transfer (CT) products, C2H2+ (2Piu) + O(3P) (CT1) and C2H2+ (4A2) + O(3P) (CT2), and the covalently bound intermediates are investigated. The approach of the oxygen atom cation to acetylene goes over an energy barrier TS1 of 29 kcal/mol (relative to the reactant) and adiabatically leads the CT2 product or a weakly bound intermediate Int1 between CT2 products. This transition state TS1 is caused by the avoided crossing between the reactant and CT2 electronic states. As the C-O distance becomes shorter beyond the above intermediate, the C1 reaction pathway is energetically more favorable than the Cs pathway and goes over the second transition state TS2 of a relative energy of 39 kcal/mol. Although this TS connects diabatically to the covalent intermediate Int2, there are many states that interact adiabatically with this diabatic state and these lead to the other charge-transfer product CT1 via either of several nonadiabatic transitions. These findings are consistent with the experiment, in which charge transfer and chemical reaction products are detected above 35 and 39 kcal/mol collision energies, respectively.     

Accurate ab initio predictions of ionization energies of hydrocarbon radicals: CH2, CH3, C2H, C2H3, C2H5, C3H3, and C3H5

The ionization energies for methylene (CH2), methyl (CH3), ethynyl (C2H), vinyl (C2H3), ethyl (C2H5), propargyl (C3H3), and allyl (C3H5) radicals have been calculated by the wave-function-based ab initio CCSD(T)/CBS approach, which involves the approximation to the complete basis set (CBS) limit at the coupled-cluster level with single and double excitations plus a quasiperturbative triple excitation [CCSD(T)]. When it is appropriate, the zero-point vibrational energy correction, the core-valence electronic correction, the scalar relativistic effect correction, the diagonal Born-Oppenheimer correction, and the high-order correlation correction have also been made in these calculations. The comparison between the computed ionization energy (IE) values and the highly precise experimental IE values determined in previous pulsed field ionization-photoelectron (PFI-PE) studies indicates that the CCSD(T)/CBS method is capable of providing accurate IE predictions for these hydrocarbon radicals achieving error limits well within +/-10 meV. The benchmarking of the CCSD(T)/CBS IE predictions by the PFI-PE experimental results also lends strong support for the conclusion that the CCSD(T)/CBS approach with high-level energy corrections can serve as a valuable alternative for reliable IE determination of radicals, particularly for those radicals with very unfavorable Franck-Condon factors for photoionization transitions near their ionization thresholds.     

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.     

Full-dimensional vibrational calculations for H5O2+ using an ab initio potential energy surface

We report quantum diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) and variational calculations in full dimensionality for selected vibrational states of H(5)O(2) (+) using a new ab initio potential energy surface [X. Huang, B. Braams, and J. M. Bowman, J. Chem. Phys. 122, 044308 (2005)]. The energy and properties of the zero-point state are focused on in the rigorous DMC calculations. OH-stretch fundamentals are also calculated using "fixed-node" DMC calculations and variationally using two versions of the code MULTIMODE. These results are compared with infrared multiphoton dissociation measurements of Yeh et al. [L. I. Yeh, M. Okumura, J. D. Myers, J. M. Price, and Y. T. Lee, J. Chem. Phys. 91, 7319 (1989)]. Some preliminary results for the energies of several modes of the shared hydrogen are also reported.     

Kinetics of the reaction: 2C2H4 → C2H5 + C2H3· heat of formation of the vinyl radical

The initial rates of formation of the major products in the thermal reactions of ethylene at temperatures in the neighborhood of 800 K have been measured in the presence and absence of the additives neopentane and ethane. It has been shown that in the absence of the additive the main initiation process is (1) while in the presence of neopentane and ethane the following additional initiation processes occur: (2) From the ratios of the rates of formation of the major products in the presence and absence of the additive the ratios k_N/k₁ and k_E/k₁ were measured over the temperature range of 750–820 K. Taking values from the literature for k_N and k_E, the following value was obtained for k₁: Previous results using butene-1 as additive were rexamined and shown to be consistent with this measurement. From this measurement the following values were derived: ΔH_f(C₂H₃) = 63.4 ± 2 kcal/mol and D(C₂H₃? H) = 103 kcal/mol.     

Accurate potential energy surface and quantum reaction rate calculations for the H+CH4-->H2+CH3 reaction

Calculations for the cumulative reaction probability N(E) (for J=0) and the thermal rate constant k(T) of the H+CH(4)-->H(2)+CH(3) reaction are presented. Accurate electronic structure calculations and a converged Shepard-interpolation approach are used to construct a potential energy surface which is specifically designed to allow the precise calculation of k(T) and N(E). Accurate quantum dynamics calculations employing flux correlation functions and multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree wave packet propagation compute N(E) and k(T) based on this potential energy surface. The present work describes in detail the various convergence test performed to investigate the accuracy of the calculations at each step. These tests demonstrate the predictive power of the present calculations. In addition, approximate approaches for reaction rate calculations are discussed. A quite accurate approximation can be obtained from a potential energy surface which includes only interpolation points on the minimum energy path.     

Ab initio investigation of the potential energy surfaces of C2H2F2 and C2H2F2+

Ab initio MO calculations have been performed for neutral and cationic C₂H₂F₂ structures. Olefinic and carbene structures are investigated for the neutral isomers, while olefinic, carbene, and fluoronium-type cations are found. Stability orders and rotational barriers are discussed in terms of orbital and Coulomb interaction. Contrary to previous studies, the higher stability of the geminal isomers is interpreted to be caused by Coulomb attraction.