Determination of the isomerization rate constant HOCH2CH2CH2CH(OO·)CH3 →HOC·HCH2CH2CH(OOH)CH3. Importance of intramolecular hydroperoxy isomerization in tropospheric chemistry

The rate constant of the title reaction is determined during thermal decomposition of di-n-pentyl peroxide C₅H₁₁O( )OC₅H₁₁ in oxygen over the temperature range 463–523 K. The pyrolysis of di-n-pentyl peroxide in O₂/N₂ mixtures is studied at atmospheric pressure in passivated quartz vessels. The reaction products are sampled through a micro-probe, collected on a liquid-nitrogen trap and solubilized in liquid acetonitrile. Analysis of the main compound, peroxide C₅H₁₀O₃, was carried out by GC/MS, GC/MS/MS [electron impact EI and NH₃ chemical ionization CI conditions]. After micro-preparative GC separation of this peroxide, the structure of two cyclic isomers (3S*,6S*)3α-hydroxy-6-methyl-1,2-dioxane and (3R*,6S*)3α-hydroxy-6-methyl-1,2-dioxane was determined from ¹H NMR spectra. The hydroperoxy-pentanal OHC( )(CH₂)₂( )CH(OOH)( )CH₃ is formed in the gas phase and is in equilibrium with these two cyclic epimers, which are predominant in the liquid phase at room temperature. This peroxide is produced by successive reactions of the n-pentoxy radical: a first one generates the CH₃C·H(CH₂)₃OH radical which reacts with O₂ to form CH₃CH(OO·)(CH₂)₃OH; this hydroxyperoxy radical isomerizes and forms the hydroperoxy HOC·H(CH₂)₂CH(OOH)CH₃ radical. This last species leads to the pentanal-hydroperoxide (also called oxo-hydroperoxide, or carbonyl-hydroperoxide, or hydroperoxypentanal), by the reaction HOC·H(CH₂)₂CH(OOH)CH₃+O₂→O()CH(CH₂)₂CH(OOH)CH₃+HO₂. The isomerization rate constant HOCH₂CH₂CH₂CH(OO·)CH₃→HOC·HCH₂CH₂CH(OOH)CH₃ (k₃) has been determined by comparison to the competing well-known reaction RO₂+NO→RO+NO₂ (k₇). By adding small amounts of NO (0–1.6×10¹⁵ molecules cm⁻³) to the di-n-pentyl peroxide/O₂/N₂ mixtures, the pentanal-hydroperoxide concentration was decreased, due to the consumption of RO₂ radicals by reaction (7). The pentanal-hydroperoxide concentration was measured vs. NO concentration at ten temperatures (463–523 K). The isomerization rate constant involving the H atoms of the CH₂( )OH group was deduced: or per H atom: The comparison of this rate constant to thermokinetics estimations leads to the conclusion that the strain energy barrier of a seven-member ring transition state is low and near that of a six-member ring. Intramolecular hydroperoxy isomerization reactions produce carbonyl-hydroperoxides which (through atmospheric decomposition) increase concentration of radicals and consequently increase atmospheric pollution, especially tropospheric ozone, during summer anticyclonic periods. Therefore, hydrocarbons used in summer should contain only short chains (<C₄) hydrocarbons or totally branched hydrocarbons, for which isomerization reactions are unlikely. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 30: 875–887, 1998     

Evidence for an ortho specific loss of OH· in some aromatic aldoximes from examination of metastable peak shapes

The mechanism for loss of an OH radical from the molecular ions of the ortho substituted compounds 2-methyl-, 2-hydroxy-, 2-amino- and 2-methoxybenzaldoxime has been studied. It is inferred from the examination of the first field free region (composite) metastable peak shapes that two distinct mechanisms are operating. Based upon additional deuterium labelling experiments it is proposed that loss of OH involves both participation of the ortho substituent in the formation of a 5-membered heterocyclic ring and the formation of a protonated isocyanide type ion via a 3-membered ring transition state. Loss of OCH3 from the corresponding O-methyl ethers probably occurs by similar mechanisms. The formation of a 5-membered ring is also proposed to be the driving force for the loss of H2NO in the spectrum of 2-methoxybenzaldoxime.     

High‐temperature shock tube study of the reactions CH3 + OH → products and CH3OH + Ar → products

The reaction between methyl and hydroxyl radicals has been studied in reflected shock wave experiments using narrow‐linewidth OH laser absorption. OH radicals were generated by the rapid thermal decomposition of tert‐butyl hydroperoxide. Two different species were used as CH₃ radical precursors, azomethane and methyl iodide. The overall rate coefficient of the CH₃ + OH reaction was determined in the temperature range 1081–1426 K under conditions of chemical isolation. The experimental data are in good agreement with a recent theoretical study of the reaction. The decomposition of methanol to methyl and OH radicals was also investigated behind reflected shock waves. The current measurements are in good agreement with a recent experimental study and a master equation simulation. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 40: 488–495, 2008     

Kinetics of the reaction Cl + CH4 → CH3+ HCl from 200° to 500deg;K

The rate constant for the reaction \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}${\rm Cl} + {\rm CH}_4 \mathop {\longrightarrow}\limits^1 {\rm CH}_3 + {\rm HCl}$\end{document} has been determined over the temperature range of 200°–500°K using a discharge flow system with resonance fluorescence detection of atomic chlorine under conditions of large excess CH₄. For 300° > T > 200°K the data are best fitted to the expression k₁ = (8.2 ± 0.6) × 10^?12 exp[?(1320 ± 20)/T] cm³/sec. Curvature is observed in the Arrhenius plot such that the effective activation energy increases from 2.6 kcal/mol at 200° < T < 300°K to 3.5 kcal/mol at 360° < T < 500°K. The data over the entire range may be fitted by the expression k₁ = 8.6×10^?18 T^2.11 exp[?795/T]. These results are compared with other experimental studies and with a semiempirical transition state calculation. Their atmospheric significance is discussed.     

Evidence for the direct isomerization of a platinocyclobutane to an olefin complex

Dichloro-2,3,3-trimethyl-1-platinocyclobutane,

, prepared by the metathetical reaction of Zeise's dimer and 1,1,2-trimethylcyclopropane, reacts with pyridine in chloroform to produce a platinum complex of 2,3-dimethyl-1-butene

. Reaction of I with pyridine at low temperatures (ca. ?40° C) leads to a pyridine addition compound (III) in which the platinocyclobutane ring remains intact. The thermal isomerization of III, which may be conveniently studied using NMR, produces a mixture of II and the free olefin.     

On the mechanism for loss of CO from aromatic oximes. Evidence for a nucleophilic attack from fluorine labelling

The mehanisms for loss of CO from benzaldoxime and acetophenone oxime have been investigated with the aid of both fluorine and deuterium labelling as well as field free region metastable peak shapes. Kinetic evergy release data and the metastable ion abundance raion test were used to obtain information about the product ions. It is proposed that loss of CO from both are generated via the nucleophilic attack of the oxygen lone pair eletrons at the ortho position of the phenyl ring as the first step in the reaction sequence.     

On the gas-phase free radical displacement reaction CH3 + CD3COCD3 → CD3 + CH3COCD3

The gas-phase free radical displacement reaction has been studied in the temperature range of 240–290°C and at 140°C with the thermal decomposition of azomethane (AM) and di-tert-butylperoxide (DTBP), respectively, as methyl radical sources. The reaction products of the CD₃ radicals were analyzed by mass spectrometry. Assuming negligible isotope effects, Arrhenius parameters for the elementary radical addition reaction were derived: The data are discussed with respect to the back reaction and general features of elementary addition reactions.     

Interaction energy and the shift in OH stretch frequency on hydrogen bonding for the H2O → H2O,CH3OH → H2O,and H2O → CH3OH dimers

The ability to use calculated OH frequencies to assign experimentally observed peaks in hydrogen bonded systems hinges on the accuracy of the calculation. Here we test the ability of several commonly employed model chemistries—HF, MP2, and several density functionals paired with the 6‐31+G(d) and 6‐311++G(d,p) basis sets—to calculate the interaction energy (D_e) and shift in OH stretch fundamental frequency on dimerization (δ(ν)) for the H₂O → H₂O, CH₃OH → H₂O, and H₂O → CH₃OH dimers (where for X → Y, X is the hydrogen bond donor and Y the acceptor). We quantify the error in D_e and δ(ν) by comparison to experiment and high level calculation and, using a simple model, evaluate how error in D_e propagates to δ(ν). We find that B3LYP and MPWB1K perform best of the density functional methods studied, that their accuracy in calculating δ(ν) is ≈ 30–50 cm^?1 and that correcting for error in D_e does little to heighten agreement between the calculated and experimental δ(ν). Accuracy of calculated δ(ν) is also shown to vary as a function of hydrogen bond donor: while the PBE and TPSS functionals perform best in the calculation of δ(ν) for the CH₃OH → H₂O dimer their performance is relatively poor in describing H₂O → H₂O and H₂O → CH₃OH. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

Reaction‐path dynamics and theoretical rate constants for the reaction CH4 + O3 → HOOO + CH3

We present a direct ab initio dynamics study of thermal rate constants of the hydrogen abstraction reaction of CH₄ + O₃ → HOOO +CH₃. The geometries of all the stationary points are optimized at MPW1K/6‐31+G(d,p), MPWB1K/6‐31+G(d,p), and BHandHLYP/6‐31+G(d,p) levels of theory. The energies are refined at a multi‐high‐level method. The extended Arrhenius expression fitted from the CVT/SCT and μVT/Eckart rate constants of ozonolysis of methane in the temperature range 200–2500 K are k^CVT/SCT(T) = 5.96 × 10^?29T^4.49e^(?17321.3/T) and k^μVT/Eckart(T) = 7.92 × 10^?29T^4.46e^(?17301.7/T), respectively. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Evidence against an ortho attack in the molecular ion of ethyl 3-phenylpropionate

¹³C labelling at the benzylic position of the title compound has shown that the decomposing m/e 107 [C₇H₇O]⁺ ion has the protonated benzaldehyde and not the o-hydroxybenzyl cation structure, suggested earlier by other authors¹.     

Imaging the Reaction Dynamics of O(3P)+CH4→OH+CH3

The title reaction was studied in a crossed‐beam experiment, in which the ground‐state methyl products were probed using a time‐sliced velocity‐imaging technique. By taking images over the energy range of chemical significance, from the threshold to about 15 kcal mol^?1, the reactive excitation function as well as the dependences of product angular distributions and of the energy disposal on initial collision energies were determined. All experimental data are consistent with the picture that the ground‐state reaction of O(³P)+CH₄ proceeds via a direct abstraction rebound‐type mechanism with a narrow cone of acceptance. Deeper insights into the underlying mechanism and the key feature of the potential‐energy surface are elucidated by comparing the results with the corresponding observables in the analogous Cl+CH₄ reaction.     

A flash photolysis study of the rate of the reaction OH + CH4 → CH3 + H2O over an extended temperature range

A flash photolysis system has been used to study the rate of reaction (1), OH + CH₄ → CH₃ + H₂O, using time-resolved resonance absorption to monitor OH. The temperature was varied between 300 and 900°K. It is found that the Arrhenius plot of k₁ is strongly curved and k₁ (T) can best be represented by the expression The apparent Arrhenius activation energy changes from 15±1 kJ/mole at 300°K to 32±2 kJ/mole at 1000°K. On either side of our temperature range, both absolute rates and their temperature dependence are in good agreement with the results from most previous investigations.     

Canonical statistical adiabatic channel model calculations of the H + CH3 → CH4 recombination reaction on an ab initio potential energy surface. The role of the transitional modes

The canonical formalism of the statistical adiabatic channel model is used to calculate limiting high pressure rate constants for the H + CH₃ → CH₄ recombination reaction on a recently reported analytic potential energy surface based on ab initio calculations. An effective adiabatic channel potential which incorporates the G_?? matrix element of the twofold degenerate H₃C? H transitional bending mode, quartic anharmonicity, and state selected mode coupling effects is implemented. The rate constants calculated over the temperature range 200–1000 K are in very good agreement with recent canonical variational transition state theory calculations performed on the same surface. The comparison with experimental results is also discussed.     

Arrhenius parameters for the reactions CH3. + C4H10 → CH4 + C4H9. and C2H5. + C4H10 → C2H6 + C4H9.

Study of n-butane pyrolysis at high temperature in a flow system allows measurement of the sum of the rate constants of the initiation reactions and of the Arrhenius parameters of the reactions Established data for k₁/k₂ allow estimation of k₁ for 951°K and this, with recent thermochemical data, yields the result log k_?1 (l.mole s^?1) = 8.5, in remarkable agreement with a recent measurement [20] but over si×ty times smaller than conventional assumption. The product k₃k₄ (l.²mole^?2s^?2) is found to be associated with the Arrhenius parameters log (A₃A₄) = 21.90 ± 0.6 and (E₃ + E₄) = 38.3 ± 2.7 kcal/mole. These values are much higher than would be e×pected on the basis of low temperature estimates. Independent evaluation gives log A₄ = 10.5 ± 0.4 (l.mole^?1s^?1) and E₄ = 20.1 ± 1.7 kcal/mole, hence log A₃ = 11.4 ± 0.8 (l.mole^?1s^?1) and E₃ = 18.2 ± 3.2 kcal/mole. These values are shown to be entirely consistent with a wide range of results from pyrolytic studies, and it is argued that they further confirm the view that Arrhenius plots for alkyl radical–alkane metathetical reactions are strongly curved, in part due to tunneling and, appreciably, to other as yet unidentified effects. Since there is published evidence that metathetical reactions involving hydrogen atoms show even greater curvature, it is suggested that this may be a characteristic of many metathetical reactions.     

The decomposition of dimethyl peroxide and the rate constant for CH3O + O2 → CH2O + HO2

The decomposition of dimethyl peroxide (DMP) was studied in the presence and absence of added NO₂ to determine rate constants k₁ and k₂ in the temperature range of 391–432°K: The results reconcile the studies by Takezaki and Takeuchi, Hanst and Calvert, and Batt and McCulloch, giving log k₁(sec^?1) = (15.7 ± 0.5) - (37.1 ± 0.9)/2.3 RT and k₂ ≈ 5 × 10⁴M^?1· sec^?1. The disproportionation/recombination ratio k_7b/k_7a = 0.30 ± 0.05 was also determined: When O₂ was added to DMP mixtures containing NO₂, relative rate constants k₁₂/k_7a were obtained over the temperature range of 396–442°K: A review of literature data produced k_7a = 10^9.8±0.5M^?1·sec^?1, giving log k₁₂(M^?1·sec^?1) = (8.5 ± 1.5) - (4.0 ± 2.8)/2.3 RT, where most of the uncertainty is due to the limited temperature range of the experiments.     

The loss of CH3⋅ from some unsaturated dithioesters

The mechanism for the loss of CH₃? (and C₂H₅?) from the molecular ions of some unsaturated dithioesters of the type with n=0, 1, 2, has been studied. Based on first field free region metastable ion characteristics it is proposed that 1,3-dithiolium type product ions are generated. Deuterium labelling experiments indicated that the molecular ions of the 2-alkenyl alkanedithioates undergo a rearrangement prior to fragmentation which resembles the [3,3]sigmatropic rearrangement in solution chemistry.     

Evidence from Chlamydomonas on the photoactivation of rhodopsins without isomerization of their chromophore

Attachment of retinal to opsin forms the chromophore N-retinylidene, which isomerizes during photoactivation of rhodopsins. To test whether isomerization is crucial, custom-tailored chromophores lacking the β-ionone ring and any isomerizable bonds were incorporated in?vivo into the opsin of a blind mutant of the eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The analogs restored phototaxis with the anticipated action spectra, ruling out the need for isomerization in photoactivation. To further elucidate photoactivation, responses to chromophores formed from naphthalene aldehydes were studied. The resulting action spectral shifts suggest that charge separation within the excited chromophore leads to electric field-induced polarization of nearby amino acid residues and altered hydrogen bonding. This redistribution of charge facilitates the reported multiple bond rotations and protein rearrangements of rhodopsin activation. These results provide insight into the activation of rhodopsins and related GPCRs.