Non-equilibrium rate coefficients and isotope effect with bimolecular ion-(polar) molecule reactions in xenon

Using the Fokker-Planck version of an approximate Boltzmann equation for the ion (translational) energy distribution function f _I the departure, k, of the non-equilibrium ion-(polar) molecule reaction rate coefficient k _non from its equilibrium value k ^(eq) is calculated. k enhances considerably with an increase of the dipole moment of the reacting molecular species (locked dipole reaction model). But the k-values, e.g. for reactions of H^–(D^–) and nitromethane in xenon enhance also with increasing ratio of the concentrations of CH₃NO₂ and Xe and decrease with enhancing gas temperature T. The reaction-induced (translational) non-equilibrium effect leads to a (non-equilibrium) kinetic isotope effect depending on and T. At T=300 K the example yields k _H /k _d =1.345(=5 · 10^–4),=1.409 (=10^–5) and=1.414–k _H ^/(eq) /k _D ^(eq) (10^–6).     

Strong collision rate coefficients in unimolecular reaction rate theory

The traditional and a recently proposed renormalized approximation to the rate coefficient obtained from a strong collision master equation are derived and compared. It is shown that they deviate significantly when applied to the unimolecular reactions of large molecules with low activation energies at elevated temperatures. The derivation is extended to yield a method whereby the exact rate coefficient can be calculated without increasing the level of numerical effort. An analysis of the exact rate coefficient in the high and low collision frequency limits is found to verify the validity of the traditional approximate rate coefficient in these limits. The renormalized rate coefficient fails in the low frequency limit. Both approximations can be significantly in error at intermediate collision frequencies and the use of the exact expression is recommended.     

Low-temperature rate coefficients for the reaction of ethynyl radical (C2H) with benzene

The reaction of the C2H radical with benzene is studied at low temperature using a pulsed Laval nozzle apparatus. The C2H radical is prepared by 193-nm photolysis of acetylene, and the C2H concentration is monitored using CH(A2Delta) chemiluminescence from the C2H + O2 reaction. Measurements at very low photolysis energy are performed using CF3C2H as the C2H precursor to study the influence of benzene photodissociation on the rate coefficient. Rate coefficients are obtained over a temperature range between 105 and 298 K. The average rate coefficient is found to be five times greater than the estimated value presently used in the photochemical modeling of Titan's atmosphere. The reaction exhibits a slight negative temperature dependence which can be fitted to the expression k(cm3 molecule(-1) s(-1)) = 3.28(+/-1.0) x 10(-10) (T/298)(-0.18(+/-0.18)). The results show that this reaction has no barrier and may play an important role in the formation of large molecules and aerosols at low temperature. Our results are consistent with the formation of a short lifetime intermediate that decomposes to give the final products.     

Comparative sensitivity analysis of transport properties and reaction rate coefficients

Transport properties of chemical species are required for many combustion models. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to assess the significance of transport properties and their underlying molecular parameterizations for atmospheric pressure premixed laminar flames for three different fuels and two different approaches to transport property calculations. The analysis is performed at both the macroscopic level of Arrhenius A-factors and transport coefficients as well as at the molecular scale. First- and second-order sensitivities of reactant, intermediate, and product species concentrations, temperature, and flame velocity were calculated with respect to various parameters, all within the mixture approximation using ADIFOR 2.0, a software package that supports exact differentiation. Parameters considered were the binary diffusion coefficients, pure species thermal conductivity coefficients, and thermal diffusion ratios. The more fundamental molecular parameters: collision diameters, well depths, dipole moments, polarizabilities, and the rotational relaxation collision numbers were also considered. Influential transport properties are found to be as important in flame modeling as influential reaction rates, and both should be taken into account when building chemical mechanisms. Transport parameter importance was found to vary according to the independent variable being considered and the flame type. Magnitudes of sensitivities appear to be more influenced by the underlying molecular parameters than the approach used to compute the transport properties. The number of significant sensitivities to transport parameters increases for the progression: flame temperature, flame velocity, reactant species, product species, and intermediate radical species. Many dependent variables have significant sensitivities to the pure species thermal conductivities of N₂, O₂, and the fuel. At the molecular level, large sensitivities to the collision diameters of several species are also observed, but significant sensitivity to well depths, although observed is less and more rare. Large sensitivities are not observed to the rotational relaxation collision number, the dipole moment, or to the molecular polarizability. Second-order sensitivities are significant for a number of dependent variables. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 37: 538–553, 2005     

Proton transfer in a polar solvent from ring polymer reaction rate theory

We have used the ring polymer molecular dynamics method to study the Azzouz-Borgis model for proton transfer between phenol (AH) and trimethylamine (B) in liquid methyl chloride. When the A-H distance is used as the reaction coordinate, the ring polymer trajectories are found to exhibit multiple recrossings of the transition state dividing surface and to give a rate coefficient that is smaller than the quantum transition state theory value by an order of magnitude. This is to be expected on kinematic grounds for a heavy-light-heavy reaction when the light atom transfer coordinate is used as the reaction coordinate, and it clearly precludes the use of transition state theory with this reaction coordinate. As has been shown previously for this problem, a solvent polarization coordinate defined in terms of the expectation value of the proton transfer distance in the ground adiabatic quantum state provides a better reaction coordinate with less recrossing. These results are discussed in light of the wide body of earlier theoretical work on the Azzouz-Borgis model and the considerable range of previously reported values for its proton and deuteron transfer rate coefficients.     

Computational study on fluorine atom reaction with silane molecule (SiH4)

The fluorine atom’s reaction with silane molecule (SiH₄) is investigated in this work. Two reaction channels which form SiH₃+HF and SiH₃F+H are discussed in the microscopic level. The analyses of transition states show that the SiH₃+HF channel proceeds through a direct hydrogen abstract mechanism and the SiH₃F+H channel could take place via the substitution mechanism. The energetic information of the potential energy surface has been obtained using high-level ab initio molecular orbital theory. A dual-level direct dynamics method is employed to calculate the rate constants of the title reaction. The rate constants of the hydrogen abstraction channel are much larger than the substitution channel. The calculated rate constants are in best agreement with available experimental result.     

Temperature-dependent rate coefficients for the gas-phase OH + furan-2,5-dione (C4H2O3, maleic anhydride) reaction

Rate coefficients, k₁(T), for the gas-phase reaction of the OH radical with furan-2,5-dione (maleic anhydride (MA), C₄H₂O₃), a biomass burning related compound, were measured under pseudo–first-order conditions in OH using the pulsed laser photolysis–laser-induced fluorescence method over a range of temperature (283-374 K) and bath gas pressure (50-200 Torr; He or N₂). k₁(T) was found to be independent of pressure over this range with k₁(283-374 K) = (1.55 ± 0.20) × 10⁻¹² exp[(−410 ± 44)/T) cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ and k₁(296 K) = (3.93 ± 0.28) × 10⁻¹³ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹, where the uncertainties are 2σ and the preexponential term includes the estimated systematic error. The atmospheric lifetime of MA with respect to OH reactive loss is estimated to be ∼15 days. The present results are compared with a previous room temperature relative rate study of the OH + MA reaction, and the significant discrepancy between the studies is discussed; the present results are approximately a factor of 4 lower. It is also noteworthy that the experimentally measured k₁(296 K) value obtained in this work is nearly a factor of 110 less than estimated by a structure activity relationship based on trends in ionization potential. Based in part on a computational evaluation, an atmospheric degradation mechanism of MA is proposed.     

Solvation and proton transfer in polar molecule nanoclusters

Proton transfer in a phenol-amine complex dissolved in polar molecule nanoclusters is investigated. The proton transfer rates and mechanisms, as well as the solvation of the complex in the cluster, are studied using both adiabatic and nonadiabatic dynamics. The phenol-amine complex exists in ionic and covalent forms and as the size of the cluster increases the ionic form gains stability at the expense of the covalent form. Both the adiabatic and nonadiabatic transfer reaction rates increase with cluster size. Given a fixed cluster size, the stability of the covalent state increases with increasing temperature. The proton transfer rates do not change monotonously with an increase in temperature. A strong correlation between the solvent polarization reaction coordinate and the location of the phenol-amine complex in the cluster is found. The ionic form of the complex strongly prefers the interior of the cluster while the covalent form prefers to lie on the cluster surface.     

Temperature dependence of the rate coefficients for the reaction of chlorine atoms with chloromethanes

Rate coefficients for the reaction of Cl atoms with CH₃Cl (k₁), CH₂Cl₂ (k₂), and CHCl₃ (k₃) have been determined over the temperature range 222–298 K using standard relative rate techniques. These data, when combined with evaluated data from previous studies, lead to the following Arrhenius expressions (all in units of cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹): k₁ = (2.8 ± 0.3) × 10⁻¹¹ exp(−1200 ± 150/T); k₂ = (1.5 ± 0.2) × 10⁻¹¹ exp(−1100 ± 150/T); k₃ = (0.48 ± 0.05) × 10⁻¹¹ exp(−1050 ± 150/T). Values for k₁ are in substantial agreement with previous measurements. However, while the room temperature values for k₂ and k₃ agree with most previous data, the activation energies for these rate coefficients are substantially lower than previously recommended values. In addition, the mechanism of the oxidation of CH₂Cl₂ has been studied. The dominant fate of the CHCl₂O radical is decomposition via Cl‐atom elimination, even at the lowest temperatures studied in this work (218 K). However, a small fraction of the CHCl₂O radicals are shown to react with O₂ at low temperatures. Using an estimated value for the rate coefficient of the reaction of CHCl₂O with O₂ (1 × 10⁻¹⁴ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹), the decomposition rate coefficient for CHCl₂O is found to be about 4 × 10⁶ s⁻¹ at 218 K, with the barrier to its decomposition estimated at 6 kcal/mole. As part of this work, the rate coefficient for Cl atoms with HCOCl was also been determined, k₇ = 1.4 × 10⁻¹¹ exp(−885/T) cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹, in agreement with previous determinations. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 31: 515–524, 1999     

Site-specific rate coefficients for reaction of OH with ethanol from 298 to 900 K

The rate coefficients for reactions of OH with ethanol and partially deuterated ethanols have been measured by laser flash photolysis/laser-induced fluorescence over the temperature range 298-523 K and 5-100 Torr of helium bath gas. The rate coefficient, k(1.1), for reaction of OH with C(2)H(5)OH is given by the expression k(1.1) = 1.06 × 10(-22)T(3.58)?exp(1126/T) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1), and the values are in good agreement with previous literature. Site-specific rate coefficients were determined from the measured kinetic isotope effects. Over the temperature region 298-523 K abstraction from the hydroxyl site is a minor channel. The reaction is dominated by abstraction of the α hydrogens (92 ± 8)% at 298 K decreasing to (76 ± 9)% with the balance being abstraction at the β position where the errors are 2σ. At higher temperatures decomposition of the CH(2)CH(2)OH product from β abstraction complicates the kinetics. From 575 to 650 K, biexponential decays were observed, allowing estimates to be made for k(1.1) and the fractional production of CH(2)CH(2)OH. Above 650 K, decomposition of the CH(2)CH(2)OH product was fast on the time scale of the measured kinetics and removal of OH corresponds to reaction at the α and OH sites. The kinetics agree (within ±20%) with previous measurements. Evidence suggests that reaction at the OH site is significant at our higher temperatures: 47-53% at 865 K.     

The O + O2 reaction: quantum detailed probabilities and thermal rate coefficients

The detailed quantum probabilities of the O + O₂ reactive system have been computed at zero total angular momentum using the time-independent quantum program ABC thanks to the restructuring of the code and its implementation on the EGEE production Grid. Their main features are discussed and out of them J-shifting thermal rate coefficients have been computed to compare with the experiment and quasiclassical trajectory results over a wide range of temperatures.     

p-Dimethylaminobenzonitrile in polar solution. L Time-dependent rate in intramolecular electron transfer reaction

An experimental study in the pico- and nano-second range of the fluorescence of DMABN in propanol solution revealed for a large range of viscosities (20?3×10³cP) a non-exponential decay of the planar excited state disappearing by a twisted charge transfer state formation. These results have been analyzed by a theoretical model of electronic relaxation in the absence of a potential barrier, making evident a time dependence of the reaction rate which is confirmed by the analysis of the appearance of the CT state.     

Theoretical rate coefficients for the exchange reaction OH + D--> OD + H

In this work quasiclassical trajectory calculations were carried out to determine directly the rate coefficients for the isotopic exchange reaction, OH + D-->OD + H, using a potential-energy surface that carefully accounts for the long-range interactions. The calculated thermal rate coefficients are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Dynamical properties and thermal rate coefficients for the Na + HF reaction using genetic algorithm

The genetic algorithm optimization technique (GAOT) was used to build a new potential energy surface (PES) to the Na + HF → NaF + H reaction. Quasi‐Classical Trajectories and Transition State Theory methods were used to obtain the dynamical properties and thermal rate coefficients (TRCs), respectively, of this new PES. These features were compared with the dynamical properties and TRCs available in the literature. It was found that the GAOT PES agrees very well with other PESs, in which the maximum difference found is smaller than 1.0 Ų for the cross‐sections. These results endow the GAOT approach as a method to build PESs of reactive scattering processes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2010     

Predicting the preexponential temperature dependence of bimolecular metathesis reaction rate coefficients using transition state theory

The thermochemical kinetics formulation of conventional transition state theory for bimolecular reactions allows for a separate contribution from each degree of freedom (translation, rotation, vibration, etc.) in the activated complex to the entropy and heat capacity of activation, and thus to the preexponential terms in the Arrhenius rate expression, k = ATⁿ exp(?B/T). The number of vibrations and (possibly hindred) internal rotations varies depending on the nature of the reaction: atom + diatom, diatom + linear polyatom, etc. The temperature exponent n can be evaluated explicitly for each type of reaction if the harmonic oscillator-rigid free rotor approximation is valid for the reagents and activated complex and if the contribution from tunneling is small. Various reaction types are examined successively, and n is evaluated for each case. The possible contributions of other factors (vibrational anharmonicity, hindered internal rotation, tunneling, “looseness” of activated complex) to the value of n are also considered.     

High temperature reaction rate coefficients derived from N-atom ARAS measurements and excimer photolysis of NO

Mixtures of NO and NO/H₂ in Ar were shock-heated and photolyzed with an ArF excimer laser. Measurements in these experiments of N-atom profiles using atomic resonance absorption spectrophotometry (ARAS) permitted the determination of two rate coefficients. The rate coefficient for the reaction was found to be 4.29 × 10¹³ exp(?787/T) cm³ mol^?1 sec^?1 (±20% at 1400 K to ±10% at 3500 K). This is the first direct high temperature measurement of this rate coefficient in the exothermic direction. The rate coefficient for the reaction was found to be 1.60 × 10¹⁴ exp(?12650/T) (±35% from 1950 to 2850 K). To our knowledge, this is the first direct measurement of this rate coefficient. A study of the N-atom ARAS absorption behavior revealed a noticeable pressure dependence, as well as a weak temperature dependence, in the Beer-Lambert law absorption coefficient. Proper consideration of these effects is important when the N-atom ARAS diagnostic is used for absolute concentration measurements.     

Polymerization and reaction rate studies on substituted phenylmethylbis(dimethylamino)silanes

The synthesis of seven para- or meta-substituted phenylmethylbis(dimethylamino)-silane monomers has been carried out. These silanes were polymerized with 1,4-bis(hydroxydimethylsilyl)benzene in tetrahydrofuran at 30°C, and the polymerization kinetics were followed by monitoring dimethylamine evolution for 200 min. The polymers were quenched by precipitation in methanol and molecular weight data were obtained. The polymerizations followed second-order kinetics in every case as evidenced by the linear plots of 1/(a ? x) versus time. The molecular weight data generally correlated with the specific reaction rate constant k₂ to show an increasing polymer molecular weight with increasing polymerization rate, although the range of k₂ values obtained for the substituted aminosilanes was relatively small (2.50 × 10^?5–6.67 × 10^?5 l./mole-sec). The value of k₂ increased in the following order: p-OCH₃, p-F, m-CH₃, H, m-OCH₃, p-CF₃, 3,5-di(CF₃). The logarithms of the rate constants correlated with the σ constants for the substituents, with a reaction constant, ρ of 0.391. The displacement at silicon in these reactions is discussed in terms of bimolecular mechanisms in which a four-center transition state may participate.     

Communication: rate coefficients from quasiclassical trajectory calculations from the reverse reaction: The Mu + H2 reaction re-visited

In a previous paper [P. G. Jambrina et al., J. Chem. Phys. 135, 034310 (2011)] various calculations of the rate coefficient for the Mu + H(2) → MuH + H reaction were presented and compared to experiment. The widely used standard quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method was shown to overestimate the rate coefficients by several orders of magnitude over the temperature range 200-1000 K. This was attributed to a major failure of that method to describe the correct threshold for the reaction owing to the large difference in zero-point energies (ZPE) of the reactant H(2) and product MuH (～0.32 eV). In this Communication we show that by performing standard QCT calculations for the reverse reaction and then applying detailed balance, the resulting rate coefficient is in very good agreement with the other computational results that respect the ZPE, (as well as with the experiment) but which are more demanding computationally.     

Rate coefficients for the OH + HC(O)C(O)H (glyoxal) reaction between 210 and 390 K

Rate coefficients, k1(T), over the temperature range of 210-390 K are reported for the gas-phase reaction OH + HC(O)C(O)H (glyoxal) --> products at pressures between 45 and 300 Torr (He, N2). Rate coefficients were determined under pseudo-first-order conditions in OH using pulsed laser photolysis production of OH radicals coupled with OH detection by laser-induced fluorescence. The rate coefficients obtained were independent of pressure and bath gas. The room-temperature rate coefficient, k1(296 K), was determined to be (9.15 +/- 0.8) x 10-12 cm3 molecule-1 s-1. k1(T) shows a negative temperature dependence with a slight deviation from Arrhenius behavior that is reproduced over the temperature range included in this study by k1(T) = [(6.6 +/- 0.6) x 10-18]T2[exp([820 +/- 30]/T)] cm3 molecule-1 s-1. For atmospheric modeling purposes, a fit to an Arrhenius expression over the temperature range included in this study that is most relevant to the atmosphere, 210-296 K, yields k1(T) = (2.8 +/- 0.7) x 10-12 exp[(340 +/- 50)/T] cm3 molecule-1 s-1 and reproduces the rate coefficient data very well. The quoted uncertainties in k1(T) are at the 95% confidence level (2sigma) and include estimated systematic errors. Comparison of the present results with the single previous determination of k1(296 K) and a discussion of the reaction mechanism and non-Arrhenius temperature dependence are presented.