A theoretical study of the reaction of HCO+ with C2H2

A theoretical study was performed for the reaction of formyl cation and acetylene to give C₃H+O in flames and C₂H (nonclassical)+CO, both in flames and in interstellar clouds. The corresponding Potential Energy Surface (PES) was studied at the B3LYP/cc‐pVTZ level of theory, and single‐point calculations on the B3LYP geometries were carried out at the CCSD(T)/cc‐pVTZ level. Our results display a route to propynal evolving energetically under C₂H (nonclassical)+CO and, consequently, accessible in interstellar clouds conditions. This route connects the most stable C₃H₃O⁺ isomer (C2‐protonated propadienone) with a species from which propynal may be produced in a dissociative electron recombination reaction. The reaction channel to produce the C₃H+O evolves basically through two TSs and presents an endothermicity of 63.9 kcal/mol at 2000 K. According to our Gibbs energy profiles, the C2‐protonated propadienone is the most stable species at low–moderate temperatures and, consequently, could play a certain role in interstellar chemistry. On the contrary, in combustion chemistry conditions (2000 K) the C₂H (nonclassical)+CO products are the most thermodynamically favored species. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 21: 35–42, 2000     

Ab initio study of the mechanism of the atmospheric reaction: NO2 + O3 --> NO3 + O2

The atmospheric reaction NO2 + O3 --> NO3 + O2 (1) has been investigated theoretically by using the MP2, G2, G2Q, QCISD, QCISD(T), CCSD(T), CASSCF, and CASPT2 methods with various basis sets. The results show that the reaction pathway can be divided in two different parts at the MP2 level of theory. At this level, the mechanism proceeds along two transition states (TS1 and TS2) separated by an intermediate, designated as A. However, when the single-reference higher correlated QCISD methodology has been employed, the minimum A and the transition state TS2 are not found on the hypersurface of potential energy, which confirms a direct reaction mechanism. Single-reference high correlated and multiconfigurational methods consistently predict the barrier height of reaction (1) to be within the range 2.5-6.1 kcal mol(-1), in reasonable agreement with experimental data. The calculated reaction enthalpy is -24.6 kcal mol(-1) and the reaction rate calculated at the highest CASPT2 level, of k = 6.9 x 10(-18) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1). Both results can be regarded also as accurate predictions of the methodology employed in this article.     

An Ab Initio Study on the Mechanism of the Atmospheric Reaction NH2+O3→H2NO+O2

The atmospheric reaction NH₂+O₃→H₂NO+O₂ has been investigated theoretically by using MP2, QCISD, QCISD(T), CCSD(T), CASSCF, and CASPT2 methods with various basis sets. At the MP2 level of theory, the hypersurface of the potential energy (HPES) shows a two step reaction mechanism. Therefore, the mechanism proceeds along two transition states (TS1 and TS2), separated by an intermediate designated as Int. However, when the single‐reference higher correlated QCISD and the multiconfigurational CASSCF methodologies have been employed, the minimum structure Int and TS2 are not found on the HPES, which thus confirms a direct reaction mechanism. Single‐reference high correlated and multiconfigurational methods consistently predict the barrier height of the reaction to be within the range of 3.9 to 6.6 kcal mol^?1, which is somewhat higher than the experimental value. ¹ The calculated reaction enthalpy is ?67.7 kcal mol^?1.     

A theoretical ab initio study on the H(2)NO + O(3) reaction

The deviation of the NH(2) pseudo-first-order decay Arrhenius plots of the NH(2) + O(3) reaction at high ozone pressures measured by experimentalists, has been attributed to the regeneration of NH(2) radicals due to the subsequent reactions of the products of this reaction with ozone. Although these products have not yet been characterized experimentally, the radical H(2)NO has been postulated, because it can regenerate NH(2) radicals through the reactions: H(2)NO + O(3) --> NH(2) + O(2) and H(2)NO + O(3) --> HNO + OH + O(2). With the purpose of providing a reasonable explanation from a theoretical point of view to the kinetic observed behaviour of the NH(2) + O(3) system, we have carried ab initio electronic structure calculations on both H(2)NO + O(3) possible reactions. The results obtained in this article, however, predict that of both reactions proposed, only the H(2)NO + O(3) --> NH(2) + O(2) reaction would regenerate indeed NH(2) radicals, explaining thus the deviation of the NH(2) pseudo-first-order decay observed experimentally.     

Ab initio study on the mechanism of reaction HNCO+NH_2

Ab initio UMP2 and UQCISD(T) calculations, with 6-311G** basis sets, were performed for the titled reactions. The results show that the reactions have two product channels: NH2+ HNCO→NH3+NCO (1) and NH2+HNCO-N2H3+CO (2), where reaction (1) is a hydrogen abstraction reaction via an H-bonded complex (HBC), lowering the energy by 32.48 kJ/mol relative to reactants. The calculated QCISD(T)//MP2(full) energy barrier is 29.04 kJ/mol, which is in excellent accordance with the experimental value of 29.09 kJ/mol. In the range of reaction temperature 2300-2700 K, transition theory rate constant for reaction (1) is 1.68 × 1011- 3.29 × 1011 mL · mol-1· s-1, which is close to the experimental one of 5.0 ×1011 mL× mol-1· s-1 or less. However, reaction (2) is a stepwise reaction proceeding via two orientation modes, cis and trans, and the energy barriers for the rate-control step at our best calculations are 92.79 kJ/mol (for cis-mode) and 147.43 kJ/mol (for trans-mode), respectively, which is much higher than     

Ab Initio Study on the Mechanism of the Atmospheric Reaction OH+O3→HO2+O2

The atmospheric reaction (1) OH + O₃→HO₂ + O₂ was investigated theoretically by using MP2, QCISD, QCISD(T), and CCSD(T) methods with various basis sets. At the highest level of theory, namely, QCISD, the reaction is direct, with only one transition state between reactants and products. However, at the MP2 level, the reaction proceeds through a two‐step mechanism and shows two transition states, TS1 and TS2 , separated by an intermediate, Int . The different methodologies employed in this paper consistently predict the barrier height of reaction (1) to be within the range 2.16–5.11 kcal mol^?1, somewhat higher than the experimental value of 2.0 kcal mol^?1.     

Ab initio study of ice catalyzation of HOCl + HCl reaction

Experiments proved that the reaction of HOCl + HCl was very slow in the gas phase, but on ice surface it was rapid. In this work the ice catalysis of HOCl + HCl reaction was investigated by using ab initio molecular orbital theory. We applied the Hartree–Fock self‐consistent field and the second‐order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory with the basis sets of 6‐31G* to the model system. The complexes and transition state were obtained along the reaction with and without the presence of ice surface. By comparing the results, a possible catalyzation mechanism of ice on the reaction is proposed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 78: 281–284, 2000     

Ab initio study of the reaction mechanism of water dissociation into the ionic species OH− and H3O+

A reaction mechanism of water dissociation is proposed where solvent effects are accounted for via a minimum stable model that considers the interaction of five water molecules. It is based on the fully self-consistent field (SCF) optimized structures of the reactant, product, and transition state, the calculations being at the Hartree–Fock and configuration interaction level [Møller–Plesset second-order perturbation (MP2) and coupled-cluster single and double excitations (CCSD)]. They were performed with four different basis sets that included polarized and diffuse orbitals. The dissociative mechanism leads to the ionic species OH⁻+H₃O⁺ as stable products and upon analysis of the energy hypersurface, a transition state is found which yields an activation barrier of 21.2 kcal/mol. This value is in good agreement with the experimentally determined enthalpy for the reaction. The contribution of the aggregation energy is emphasized. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 68: 253–259, 1998     

五氧化二氮和水反应的从头算研究

在臭氧空洞形成过程中,极地云是一个重要的条件。为了理解极地云的形成和性质,采用不同水平的从头计算方法对N~2O~5+H~2O→2HNO~3反应进行了理论研究。在QCISD(T)//MP2/6-311G(d,p)理论水平上,该气相反应的焓变△H^0=-39.5kJ·mol^-^1,自由能变化△G^0=-36.1kJ/mol,活化能E~a=88.2kJ·mol^-^1(298K)。计算的结果与五氧化二氮易潮解的性质相符。     

Ab initio study of the reaction path of the reaction HNCO+CN

HNCO is a convenient photolytic source of NCO and NH radicals for laboratory kinetics studies of elementary reaction[1] and plays an important role in the combustion and atmosphere chemistry. It can re- move deleterious compounds rapidly from exhausted ga…     

用从头算研究Shilov反应的机理

Shilov反应在CH~4活化中占有中心地位,它有氧化加成和σ迁移两种可能的机理。本文用较大基组的从头算研究了这两种机理的反应过程,认为Shilov反应应按氧化加成机理进行。     

Ab initio study of the insertion reactions of Sc+(1D) with HF,HCl, H2O,H2S,NH3, PH3, CH4, and SiH4

The mechanism of scandium cation Sc⁺(¹D) insertion into HF, HCl, H₂O, H₂S, NH₃, PH₃, CH₄, and SiH₄ has been investigated by ab initio molecular theory. All these reactions involve the initial formation of intermediate complexes followed by an H‐atom migration process via a transition state to insertion products. The Sc⁺(¹D) insertion into eight compound reactions indicate that (i) the reaction with hydride of the right‐hand group is more exothermic than that of the left‐hand group and has a lower barrier, and (ii) the reaction with the second‐row hydride has a lower overall barrier and is less exothermic than with the first‐row hydride. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005     

Ab initio studies of ClO(x) reactions: prediction of the rate constants of ClO+NO2 for the forward and reverse processes.

The potential-energy surface for the reaction of ClO with NO2 has been constructed at the CCSD(T)/6-311+G(3df)//B3LYP/6-311+G(3df) level of theory. Six ClNO3 isomers are located; these are ClONO2, pc-ClOONO, pt-ClOONO, OClNO2, pt-OClONO, pc-OClONO, with predicted energies relative to the reactants of -25.6, -0.5, 1.0, 1.9, 12.2 and 13.6 kcal mol-1, and heats of formation at 0 K of 7.8, 32.9, 34.4, 35.5, 45.6 and 47.0 kcal mol-1, respectively. Isomerizations among them are also discussed. The rate constants for the low-energy pathways have been computed by statistical theory calculations. For the association reaction producing exclusively ClONO2, the predicted low- and high-pressure-limit rate constants in N2 for the temperature range of 200-600 K can be represented by: (N2)=3.19 x 10-17 T-5.54 exp(-384 K/T) cm6 molecule-2 s-1 and =3.33 x 10-7 T-1.48 exp(-18 K/T) cm3 molecule-1 s-1. The predicted low- and high-pressure-limit rate constants for the decomposition of ClONO2 in N2 at 200-600 K can be expressed, respectively, by =6.08 x 1013 T-6.54 exp(-13813 K/T) cm3 molecule-1 s-1 and =4.59 x 1023 T-2.43 exp(-13437 K/T) s-1. The predicted values compare satisfactorily with available experimental data. The reverse Cl+NO3 reaction was found to be independent of the pressure, giving exclusively ClO+NO2; the predicted rate constant can be expressed as k(Cl+NO3)=1.19 x 10-9 T-0.60 exp(58 K/T) cm3 molecule-1 s-1..     

Ab initio direct dynamics studies on the reaction of H atom with CH3CH2Cl

The multiple channel reaction H + CH(3)CH(2)Cl --> products has been studied by the ab initio direct dynamics method. The potential energy surface information is calculated at the MP2/6-311G(d,p) level of theory. The energies along the minimum energy path are further improved by single-point energy calculations at the PMP4(SDTQ)/6-311+G(3df,2p) level of theory. For the reaction, four reaction channels (one chlorine abstraction, one alpha-hydrogen abstraction, and two beta-hydrogen abstractions) have been identified. The rate constants for each reaction channel are calculated by using canonical variational transition state theory incorporating the small-curvature tunneling correction in the temperature range 298-5000 K. The total rate constants, which are calculated from the sum of the individual rate constants, are in good agreement with the experimental data. The calculated temperature dependence of the branching fractions indicates that for the title reaction, H-abstraction reaction is the major reaction channel in the whole temperature range 298-5000 K.     

Ab initio study on the photochemical behavior of styrene

Ab initio complete active space self‐consistent field (CASSCF) and the second order multireference Møller‐Plesset calculations have been performed to examine the photochemical behavior of styrene upon the strong S₀‐S₂ electronic excitation in the low‐lying excited states. The optimized structure at the S₂/S₁ conical intersection (CIX) is characterized by a quinoid structure. The transition state (TS) in S₁ is in the vicinity of the S₂/S₁‐CIX. At the S₁‐TS, two reaction paths branch. One is the relaxation into the stable structure in S₁ and then emission into S₀. The other is the radiationless decay through the S₁/S₀‐CIX. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 10: 950–956, 2002     

Ab initio study on the electronic structures of styrene in the Franck-Condon region

The electronic structures of styrene in the Franck‐Condon region have been theoretically examined by means of ab initio complete active space self‐consistent field (CASSCF) and the second order multireference Møller‐Plesset calculations. The optimized structure of styrene in S₀ is planar but the torsional motion of the phenyl group is very floppy. The S₁ state is assigned to the local π–π* excitation within the benzene ring. On the other hand, S₂, above S₁ by 0.561 eV, is assigned to a state that resembles the so‐called V‐state of ethylene. The transition intensity of S₀–S₁ is weak, while that of S₀–S₂ is strong. This is in good agreement with the experimental absorption spectrum where the S₀–S₁ and S₀–S₂ transitions are in the energy range of 290–220 nm. The optimized geometry of S₁, characterized by an enlarged benzene ring and its vibrational analyses, further justifies the assignment of the S₁ state. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 9: 928–937, 2002     

Kinetics and mechanism of the C6H5 + CH3CHO reaction: experimental measurement and theoretical prediction of the reactivity toward four molecular sites.

The kinetics and mechanism of the reaction of C6H5 with CH3CHO have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The total rate constant for the reaction has been measured by means of the cavity ring-down spectrometry (CRDS) in the temperature range 299-501 K at pressures covering 20-75 Torr. The overall bimolecular rate constant can be represented by the expression k = (2.8 +/- 0.2) x 10(11) exp[-(700 +/- 30)/T] cm3 mol-1 s-1, which is slightly faster than for the analogous C6H5 + CH2O reaction determined with the same method in the same temperature range. The reaction mechanism for the C6H5 + CH3CHO reaction was also explored with quantum-chemical calculations at various hybrid density functional theories (DFTs) and using ab initio high-level composite methods. The theories predict that the reaction may occur by two hydrogen-abstraction and two addition channels with the aldehydic hydrogen-abstraction reaction being dominant. The rate constant calculated by the transition state theory for the aldehydic hydrogen-abstraction reaction is in good agreement with the experimental result after a very small adjustment of the predicted reaction barrier (+0.3 kcal mol-1). Contributions from other product channels are negligible under our experimental conditions. For combustion applications, we have calculated the rate constants for key product channels in the temperature range of 298-2500 K under atmospheric-pressure conditions; they can be represented by the following expressions in units of cm 3mol-1 s-1: k1,cho = 8.8 x 10(3)T2.6 exp(-90/T), k2,ch3 = 6.0 x 10(1)T3.3 exp(-950/T), k3a(C6H5COCH3 + H) = 4.2 x 10(5)T0.6 exp(-410/T) and k3b(C6H5CHO + CH3) = 6.6 x 10(9)T-0.5 exp(-310/T).     

Ab initio study on the reaction mechanism of ozone with bromine atom

Ab initio calculations of the potential energy surface (PES) for the Br+O₃ reaction have been performed using the MP2, CCSD(T), and QCISD(T) methods with 6‐31G(d), 6‐311G(d), and 6‐311+G(3df). The reaction begins with a transition state (TS) when the Br atom attacks a terminal oxygen of ozone, producing an intermediate, the bromine trioxide (M), which immediately dissociates to BrO+O₂. The geometry optimizations of the reactants, products, and intermediate and transition states are carried out at the MP2/6‐31G(d) level. The reaction potential barrier is 3.09 kcal/mol at the CCSD(T)/6‐311+G(3df)//MP2 level, which shows that the bromine atom trends intensively to react with the ozone. The comparison of the Br+O₃ reaction with the F+O₃ and Cl+O₃ reactions indicates that the reactions of ozone with the halogen atoms have the similar reaction mechanism. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Ab initio study of free-radical polymerizations: cost-effective methods to determine the reaction rates.

The addition of carbon-centered radicals to ethene, which are important in free-radical polymerization processes, are studied from a theoretical point of view. Experimental data for the rate constants are only available for the addition of methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl radicals. The latter reactions are taken as model systems to derive a cost-effective method for the addition of alkyl radicals to ethene. The proposed model must be accurate and computationally feasible for additions in which larger radicals are involved. Accuracy is validated by direct comparison of theoretical and experimental rate constants in the temperature range from 300 to 600 K. A variety of electronic-structure methods were tested ranging from Hartree-Fock and post-Hartree-Fock methods to pure and hybrid density functional theory methods. Molecular partition functions were refined by treating large amplitude vibrations beyond the harmonic oscillator approximation.