Theoretical study of the mechanism of CH2CO + CN reaction

The potential energy surface information of the CH₂CO + CN reaction is obtained at the B3LYP/6‐311+G(d,p) level. To gain further mechanistic knowledge, higher‐level single‐point calculations for the stationary points are performed at the QCISD(T)/6‐311++G(d,p) level. The CH₂CO + CN reaction proceeds through four possible mechanisms: direct hydrogen abstraction, olefinic carbon addition–elimination, carbonyl carbon addition–elimination, and side oxygen addition–elimination. Our calculations demonstrate that R→IM1→TS3→P3: CH₂CN + CO is the energetically favorable channel; however, channel R→IM2→TS4→P4: CH₂NC + CO is considerably competitive, especially as the temperature increases (R, IM, TS, and P represent reactant, intermediate, transition state, and product, respectively). The present study may be helpful in probing the mechanism of the CH₂CO + CN reaction. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

Direct dynamics study on the mechanism and the kinetics of the reaction of CH3NH2 with OH

A theoretical study of the mechanism and the kinetics for the hydrogen abstraction reaction of methylamine by OH radical has been presented at the CCSD(T)/6‐311 ++G(2d,2p)//CCSD/6‐31G(d) level of theory. Our theoretical calculations suggest a stepwise mechanism involving the formation of a prereactant complex in the entrance channel and a preproduct complex in the exit channel, for the two hydrogen abstraction channels involving the methyl and amine groups. For clarity, the diagram of potential for the reaction is given. The calculated standard reaction enthalpies are ?98.48 and ?76.50 kJ mol^?1 and barrier heights are 0.36 and 25.25 kJ mol^?1, respectively. The rate constants are evaluated by means of the improved canonical variational transition state theory with small‐curvature tunneling correction (ICVT/SCT) in the temperature range of 299–3000 K. The calculated results show that the rate constants at experimentally measured temperatures are in good agreement with the experimental values. It is shown that the calculated rate constants exhibit a non‐Arrhenius behavior. Moreover, the variational effect is obvious in the calculated temperature range. The dominant product channel is to form CH₂NH₂ and H₂O via hydrogen abstraction from the CH₃ group of CH₃NH₂ by OH in the calculated temperature range. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2009     

Theoretical and kinetic study of the H + C2H5CN reaction

The reaction of H radical with C₂H₅CN has been studied using various quantum chemistry methods. The geometries were optimized at the B3LYP/6‐311+G(d,p) and B3LYP/6‐311++G(2d,2p) levels. The single‐point energies were calculated using G3 and BMC‐CCSD methods based on B3LYP/6‐311++G(2d,2p) geometries. Four mechanisms were investigated, namely, hydrogen abstraction, C‐addition/elimination, N‐addition/elimination and substitution. The kinetics of this reaction were studied using the transition state theory and multichannel Rice‐Ramsperger‐Kassel‐Marcus methodologies over a wide temperature range of 200–3000 K. The calculated results indicate that C‐addition/elimination channel is the most feasible over the whole temperature range. The deactivation of initial adduct C₂H₅CHN is dominant at lower temperature with bath gas H₂ of 760 Torr; whereas C₂H₅+HCN is the dominant product at higher temperature. Our calculated rate constants are in good agreement with the available experimental data. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

Mechanistic and kinetic study the reaction of O(<Superscript>3</Superscript>P) + CH<Subscript>3</Subscript>CFCH<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The triplet potential energy surface of the O(³P) + CH₃CFCH₂ reaction has been investigated at the BMC-CCSD//MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level. Multichannel RRKM theory and transition state theory are employed to calculate the rate constants over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. The total rate constants show positive temperature dependence and pressure independence. At pressure of 10 Torr with He as bath gas, the addition/elimination on triplet potential energy surface is a dominant pathway. Major predicted end products are CH₃CFCHO (I) and H at the temperatures between 200 and 3,000 K; the direct hydrogen abstraction leading to OH + CH₂CFCH₂(I) plays an important role at higher temperatures. The calculated overall rate constants are in good agreement with the available experimental data.     

Theoretical Study on the Reaction Mechanism of Ketene CH2CO with Isocyanate NCO Radical

The bimolecular single collision reaction potential energy surface of an isocyanate NCO radical with a ketene CH2CO molecule was investigated by means of B3LYP and QCISD（T） methods. The computed results indicate that two possible reaction channels exist on the surface. One is an addition-elimination reaction process, in which the CH2CO molecule is attacked by the nitrogen atom at its methylene carbon atom to lead to the formation of the intermediate OCNCH2CO followed by a C-C rupture channel to the products CH2NCO＋CO. The other is a direct hydrogen abstraction channel from CHzCO by the NCO radical to afford the products HCCO＋HNCO. Because of a higher barrier in the hydrogen abstraction reaction than in the addition-elimination reaction, the direct hydrogen abstraction pathway can only be considered as a secondary reaction channel in the reaction kinetics of NCO＋ CH2CO. The predicted results are in good agreement with previous experimental and theoretical investigations.     

Mechanistic and dual-level direct dynamics studies on the reaction Cl + CH2FCl

Theoretical investigations are carried out on the reaction Cl + CH₂FCl by means of direct dynamics method. The minimum energy path (MEP) is obtained at the MP2/6-311G(d, p) level. The energetic information is further improved by single-point energy calculations using QCISD(T)/6-311++G(d, p) method. The kinetics of this reaction are calculated by canonical variational transition state theory incorporating with the small-curvature tunneling correction over a wide temperature range of 220–3,000 K, and rate constant expression are found to be k(T) = 1.48 × 10^?17 T ^2.04exp(?913.91/T). For the title reaction, H-abstraction reaction channel is the major channel at the lower temperatures. At higher temperatures, the contribution of Cl-abstraction reaction channel should be taken into account.     

Mechanisms for the Breakdown of Halomethanes through Reactions with Ground‐State Cyano Radicals

One route to break down halomethanes is through reactions with radical species. The capability of the artificial force‐induced reaction algorithm to efficiently explore a large number of radical reaction pathways has been illustrated for reactions between haloalkanes (CX₃Y; X=H, F; Y=Cl, Br) and ground‐state (²Σ⁺) cyano radicals (CN). For CH₃Cl+CN, 71 stationary points in eight different pathways have been located and, in agreement with experiment, the highest rate constant (10⁸ s^?1 M ^?1 at 298 K) is obtained for hydrogen abstraction. For CH₃Br, the rate constants for hydrogen and halogen abstraction are similar (10⁹ s^?1 M ^?1), whereas replacing hydrogen with fluorine eliminates the hydrogen‐abstraction route and decreases the rate constants for halogen abstraction by 2–3 orders of magnitude. The detailed mapping of stationary points allows accurate calculations of product distributions, and the encouraging rate constants should motivate future studies with other radicals.     

Temperature dependence and branching ratio of the C2H5OH+OH reaction

Rate constants of hydrogen abstraction from C₂H₅OH by hydroxyl radicals have been measured in the temperature range 300–1000 K by laser-induced fluorescence detection of OH. An Arrhenius expression k(T) = (4.4 ± 1.0) × 10⁻¹² × exp[(–274 ± 90) K/T] cm³/s was derived. Mass spectrometric investigation of the reaction products resulted in a yield of (75 ± 15)% for the CH₃CHOH product channel at 300 K.     

Theoretical study on the gas phase reaction of acrylonitrile with atomic hydrogen

The complex potential energy surface of the H + CH₂=CHCN reaction has been investigated at the BMC-CCSD level based on the geometric parameters optimized at the BHandHLYP/6-311++G(d,p) level. This reaction is revealed to be one of the significant loss processes of acrylonitrile. The BHandHLYP and M05-2X methods are employed to obtain initial geometries. The reaction mechanism confirms that H can attack on the C=C double bond or C and N atom of –CN group to form the chemically activated adducts IM1 (CH₃CHCN), IM2 (CH₂CH₂CN), IM3′ (CH₂=CHCHN) and IM5 (CH₂=CHCNH), and direct H-abstraction paths may also occur. Temperature- and pressure-dependent rate constants have been carried out using Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus theory with tunneling correction. IM1 (CH₃CHCN) formed by collisional stabilization is the major product at the 760 Torr pressure of H₂ and in the temperature range (200–1,600 K); whereas the production of IM2 (CH₂CH₂CN) is the main channel at 1,600–3,000 K. The calculated rate constants are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

The DFT study on mechanisms for NCO with C2H5 reaction

A detailed investigation has been performed at the QCISD(T)/6‐311++G(d,p)//B3LYP/6‐311+G(d,p) level for the reaction of NCO with C₂H₅ by constructing singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces (PES). The results show that the title reaction is more favorable on the singlet PES than on the triplet PES. On the singlet PES, the initial addition processes are barrierless and release lots of energy. The dominant channel occurs via the fragmentations of the initial adduct C₂H₅NCO and C₂H₅OCN to form C₂H₄ + HNCO and HOCN, respectively. With higher barrier heights, other products such as CH₄ + HNC + CO, CH₃CHNH + CO, CH₃CH + HNCO, and CH₃CN + H₂ + CO are less competitive. On the triplet PES, the entrance reactions surpass significant barriers; therefore, it could be negligible at the normal atmospheric condition. However, the most feasible channel on the triplet PES is the direct hydrogen abstraction channel to form CH₂CH₂ + HNCO. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Ab initio/DFT theory and multichannel RRKM study on the mechanisms and kinetics for the CH3S + CO reaction

The potential energy surface for the reaction of CH₃S with CO was calculated at the G3MP2//B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level. The rate constants for feasible channels leading to several products were calculated by TST and multichannel-RRKM theory. The results show that addition–elimination mechanism is dominant, while hydrogen abstraction mechanism is uncompetitive. The major channel is the addition of CO to CH₃S leading to an intermediate CH₃SCO which then decomposes to CH₃ + OCS. In the temperature range of 200–3000 K, the overall rate constants are positive temperature dependence and pressure independence, and it can be described by the expression as k = 1.10 × 10⁻¹⁶T^1.57exp(−3359/T) cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹. At temperature between 208 and 295 K, the calculated rate constants are in good agreement with the experimental upper limit data. At T = 1000 and 2000 K, the major product is CH₃ + OCS at lower pressure; while at higher pressure, the stabilization of IM1 is dominant channel.     

The microwave spectrum,structure and centrifugal distortion constants of 2-chloroacrylonitrile

The microwave spectrum of 2-chloroacrylonitrile has been studied in the 26.5–40 GHz region. A total of 99 a- and b-type rotational transitions have been measured and assigned for CH₂ =C³⁵Cl(CN),yielding values for the rotational constants (in MHz): A = 6973.27, B = 3148.16, C = 2165.95. For CH₂=C³⁷Cl(CN) a total of 53 transitions have been measured and assigned and the rotational constants obtained are (in MHz): A = 6909.35, B = 3081.17, C = 2127.98. The distortion effects have also been studied and the quartic distortion constants have been evaluated. From the observed hyperfine structure, the chlorine nuclear quadrupole coupling constants have been obtained. The structure of vinyl cyanide and vinyl chloride can be transferred to account remarkably well for the observed rotational constants.     

Dual-level direct dynamics studies on the reactions of tetramethylsilane with chlorine and bromine atoms

The multiple-channel reactions Cl + Si(CH₃)₄ and Br + Si(CH₃)₄ are investigated by direct dynamics method. The minimum energy path is calculated at the MP2/6-31+G(d,p) level, and energetic information is further refined by the MC-QCISD (single-point) method. The rate constants for individual reaction channel are calculated by the improved canonical variational transition state theory with small-curvature tunneling correction over the temperature range 200–3,000 K. The theoretical three-parameter expression k ₁(T) = 9.97 × 10^?13 T ^0.54exp(613.22/T) and k ₂(T) = 1.16 × 10^?17 T ^2.30exp(?3525.88/T) (in unit of cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1) are given. Our calculations indicate that hydrogen abstraction channel is the major channel due to the smaller barrier height among feasible channels considered.     

Theoretical study on the gas phase reaction of propargyl alcohol with hydroxyl radical

The reaction of propargyl alcohol with hydroxyl radical has been studied extensively at CCSD(T)/aug‐cc‐pVTZ//MP2/cc‐pVTZ level. This is the first time to gain a conclusive insight into the reaction mechanism and kinetics for this important reaction in detail. Two reaction mechanisms were revealed, namely addition/elimination and hydrogen abstraction mechanism. The reaction mechanism confirms that OH addition to C?C triple bond forms the chemically activated adducts, IM1 (·CHCOHCH₂OH) and IM2 (CHOH·CCH₂OH), and the hydrogen abstraction pathways (? CH₂OH bonded to the carbon atom and alcohol hydrogen) may occur via low barriers. Harmonic model of Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus theory and variational transition state theory are used to calculate the overall and individual rate constants over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. The calculated rate constants are in good agreement with the experimental data. At atmospheric pressure with Ar as bath gas, IM1 (·CHCOHCH₂OH) and IM2 (CHOH·CCH₂OH) formed by collisional stabilization are dominant in the low temperature range. The production of CHCCHOH + H₂O via hydrogen abstraction becomes dominate at higher temperature. The fraction of IM3 (CH₂COHCH₂·O) is very significant over the moderate temperature range. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Direct ab initio dynamics study of the reaction of C2(A3Πu) with CH4

The reaction of C₂(A³Π_u) with CH₄ has been investigated over a wide temperature range 200–3,000 K by direct ab initio dynamics method at the BMC‐CCSD//BB1K/6‐311+G(2d,2p) level of theory. The optimized geometries and frequencies of the stationary points are calculated at the BB1K/6‐311+G(2d,2p) level, and then the energy profiles of the reactions are refined using the BMC‐CCSD method. The activation barrier height for H‐abstraction reaction was calculated to be 4.44 kcal/mol in temperature range (337–605 K), and the electron transfer behavior was also analyzed by quasi‐restricted molecular orbital method in detail. The canonical variational transition‐state theory (CVT) with the small curvature tunneling (SCT) correction method is used to calculate the rate constants over a wide temperature range 200–3,000 K. The theoretical results shows that variational effect is to some extent large in lower temperature range, and small curvature and tunneling effect play important roles to the H‐atom abstraction only at lower temperatures. The CVT/SCT rate constants are in good agreement with the available experimental results. Our theoretical study is expected to provide a direct insight into the reaction mechanism and may be useful for estimating the kinetics of the title reaction over a wide temperature range where no experimental data are available so far. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2012     

Hydrogen abstraction reactions of OH radicals with CH₃CH₂CH₂Cl and CH₃CHClCH₃: a mechanistic and kinetic study

The hydrogen abstraction reactions of OH radicals with CH₃CH₂CH₂Cl (R1) and CH₃CHClCH₃ (R2) have been investigated theoretically by a dual‐level direct dynamics method. The optimized geometries and frequencies of the stationary points are calculated at the B3LYP/6‐311G(d,p) level. To improve the reaction enthalpy and potential barrier of each reaction channel, the single point energy calculation is performed by the BMC‐CCSD method. Using canonical variational transition‐state theory (CVT) with the small‐curvature tunneling correction, the rate constants are evaluated over a wide temperature range of 200–2000 K at the BMC‐CCSD//B3LYP/6‐311G(d,p) level. For the reaction channels with the negative barrier heights, the rate constants are calculated by using the CVT. The calculated total rate constants are consistent with available experimental data. The results show that at lower temperatures, the tunneling correction has an important contribution in the calculation of rate constants for all the reaction channels with the positive barrier heights, while the variational effect is found negligible for some reaction channels. For reactions OH radicals with CH₃CH₂CH₂Cl (R1) and CH₃CHClCH₃ (R2), the channels of H‐abstraction from –CH₂– and –CHCl groups are the major reaction channels, respectively, at lower temperatures. With temperature increasing, contributions from other channels should be taken into account. Finally, the total rate constants are fitted by two models, i.e., three‐parameter and four‐parameter expressions. The enthalpies of formation of the species CH₃CHClCH₂, CH₃CHCH₂Cl, and CH₂CH₂CH₂Cl are evaluated by isodesmic reactions. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011     

Computational studies on the mechanism and kinetics of Cl reaction with C2H5I

The dual‐level direct kinetics method has been used to investigate the multichannel reactions of C₂H₅I + Cl. Three hydrogen abstraction channels and one displacement process are found for the title reaction. The calculation indicates that the hydrogen abstraction from ? CH₂? group is the dominant reaction channel, and the displacement process may be negligible because of the high barrier. The rate constants for individual reaction channels are calculated by the improved canonical variational transition‐state theory with small‐curvature tunneling correction over the temperature range of 220–1500 K. Our results show that the tunneling correction plays an important role in the rate constant calculation in the low‐temperature range. Agreement between the calculated and experimental data available is good. The Arrhenius expression k(T) = 2.33 × 10^?16 T^1.83 exp(?185.01/T) over a wide temperature range is obtained. Furthermore, the kinetic isotope effects for the reaction C₂H₅I + Cl are estimated so as to provide theoretical estimation for future laboratory investigation. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

Computational study on the mechanisms and kinetics of the CH<Subscript>2</Subscript>=CHCH<Subscript>2</Subscript>I with OH reaction

The potential energy surface for the reaction of OH with CH₂═CHCH₂I has been studied at the CCSD(T)//M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. Three different reaction entrances were revealed, namely, terminal-C addition, central-C addition, and H-abstraction, leading to CH₂OHCHCH₂I (IM1), CH₂CHOHCH₂I (IM2), and H₂O?+?C₃H₄I, respectively. Several conceivable decomposition and isomerization channels were also examined for IM1 and IM2. The total and individual rate constants were calculated by using multichannel RRKM and TST theories over a wide range of temperatures (200–3000 K) and pressures(10^?14–10¹⁴ Torr).     

Insight into the Mechanism of the Initial Reaction of an OH Radical with DNA/RNA Nucleobases: A Computational Investigation of Radiation Damage

Earlier theoretical investigations of the mechanism of radiation damage to DNA/RNA nucleobases have claimed OH radical addition as the dominating pathway based solely on energetics. In this study we supplement calculations of energies with the kinetics of all possible reactions with the OH radical through hydrogen abstraction and OH radical addition onto carbon sites, using DFT at the ωB97X‐D/6‐311++G(2df,2pd) level with the Eckart tunneling correction. The overall rate constants for the reaction with adenine, guanine, thymine, and uracil are found to be 2.17×10^?12, 5.64×10^?11, 2.01×10^?11, and 5.03×10^?12 cm³ molecules^?1 s^?1, respectively, which agree exceptionally well with experimental values. We conclude that abstraction of the amine group hydrogen atoms competes with addition onto C₈ as the most important reaction pathway for the purine nucleobases, while for the pyrimidine nucleobases addition onto C₅ and C₆ competes with the abstraction of H₁. Thymine shows favourability against abstraction of methyl hydrogens as the dominating pathway based on rate constants. These mechanistic conclusions are partly explained by an analysis of the electrostatic potential together with HOMO and LUMO orbitals of the nucleobases.     

Relative rate constants for the reactions of trichloropropenyl radical. Application of the two-parameter Taft equation

The relative rate constants for the hydrogen atom abstraction by CCl₃CH?CH· radical from CH₂Cl₂, CHCl₃, CH₃COCH₃, CH₃CN, C₆H₅CH₃, C₆H₅OCH₃, CH₃CHO, and CH₃OH in the liquid phase at 20°C have been measured. It was shown that these reaction rate constants are correlated by the two-parameter Taft equation with ρ* = 0.726 ± 0.096, r* = 1.22 ± 0.16. A relationship between r* and bond dissociation energy D(R? H) has been found for the abstraction reactions of different free radicals.