Intermolecular energy transfer in two-channel unimolecular reactions: the pyrolysis of 1-iodopropane

Pressure-dependent unimolecular reaction rate coefficients have been obtained for the two channels of decomposition of 1-iodopropane (dilute in Ne), using very low-pressure pyrolysis (VLPP). The interpretation, taking finite diffusion rates into account, gives convincing evidence for “weak” gas/gas collisions and “strong” gas/wall collisions.     

Theoretical investigation of unimolecular decomposition channels of furan4

Density functional theory and high-level ab initio calculations were carried out to investigate three unimolecular decomposition channels of furan. All equilibrium and transition state structures along the proposed decomposition channels are fully optimized by B3LYP/6-31G** and characterized at the same level of theory by vibrational and intrinsic reaction coordinate analyses. Relative energies of the optimized structures were evaluated at theoretical levels up to QCISD(T)/6-311++G**. The theoretical results suggest that the unimolecular decomposition channel of isoxazole, proposed in an experimental study and implied to be the main decomposition channel of furan, is responsible only for the formation of HC(TRIPLE BOND)CH and H₂O(DOUBLE BOND)C(DOUBLE BOND)O, minor products of furan thermal decomposition. A new decomposition mechanism, proposed in the present study, is shown to be more likely responsible for the formation of CH₃C(TRIPLE BOND)CH and CO, major products of furan thermal decomposition. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 19: 240–249, 1998     

Theoretical studies on ammonia oxide and its unimolecular reactions

The unimolecular reactions of ammonia oxide H₃NO, isomerization and dehydrogenation, are investigated by ab initio MO calculations with the 4-31G basis set. The geometries and energies of the reactant, transition states and products have been determined on the singlet potential energy surface. The reaction ergodography along the intrinsic reaction coordinate (IRC) for the two reactions have been performed. The vibrational frequency correlation diagram of the two reactions are analyzed along the IRC.     

Competitive unimolecular reactions at low pressures. The pyrolysis of cyclobutyl chloride

The thermal decomposition of cyclobutyl chloride has been investigated over the temperature range of 892–1150 K using the technique of very low-pressure pyrolysis (VLPP). The reaction proceeds via two competitive unimolecular channels, one to yield ethylene and vinyl chloride and the other to yield 1,3-butadiene and hydrogen chloride, with the latter being the major reaction under the experimental conditions. With the usual assumption that gas-wall collisions are «strong,» RRKM calculations, generalized to take into account two competing pathways, show that the experimental unimolecular rate constants are consistent with the high-pressure Arrhenius parameters given by log k₁(sec^?1) = (14.8 ± 0.3) ? (61.1 ± 1.0)/Θ for vinyl chloride formation and log k₂(sec^?1) = (13.6 ± 0.3) ? (55.7 ± 1.0)/Θ for 1,3-butadiene formation, where Θ = 2.303 RT kcal/mol. The A factors were assigned from previous high-pressure low-temperature data of other workers assuming a four-center transition state for 1,2-HCl elimination and a chlorine-bridged biradical transition state for vinyl chloride formation. The activation energies are in good agreement with the high-pressure results which were obtained with a conventional static system. The difference in critical energies is 4.6 kcal/mol.     

H2ClCS单分子分解反应机理的理论研究

用量子化学B3LYP/6 - 311+G(d,p)方法优化了H2ClCS单分子分解反应驻点物种的几何构型,并在相同水平上通过频率计算和内禀反应坐标(IRC)分析对过渡态结构及连接性进行了验证.用QCISD(T)/6-311++G(d,p)方法计算各物种的单点能,并对总能量进行了零点能校正.利用经典过渡态理论(TST)与...     

Theoretical studies of the NTO unimolecular decomposition

This work studies 39 decomposition paths among 18 intermediates and 14 transition states. Three types of intra-molecular proton migration and the direct scission of C–NO₂ were regarded as the initial steps of the unimolecular decomposition of NTO. The activation energies of the radicalization C–NO₂ homolysis step are 79.158, 79.781 and 80.652 kcal mol⁻¹. The activation energies of the ionization C–NO⁻¹₂ scission step are 262.488, 263.138 and 272.278 kcal mol⁻¹. The bottle neck activation energies of the C–NO₂H cleavage are 54.936, 63.257 and 71.247 kcal mol⁻¹. Two paths have the smallest bottle neck activation energy. Both of them have two proton migration steps and one internal rotation step prior to C–NO₂H cleavage. At lower temperatures, energy accumulated slowly. When the energy is high enough and reaction time is long enough for structure transformation, these two mechanisms should be the most probable decomposition paths. At high temperatures, the shortest (four steps) mechanism which goes through radicalization C–NO₂ scission should be the dominant path. There are five tautomers found in this study. Four of them are intra-molecular proton migration tautomers. The other one is an internal rotational tautomer. Their energy barriers for structure transfer are lower than any of the activation energies of the decomposition reactions. It may be regarded as one explanation of the insensitive property of NTO.     

Solution of the master equation for unimolecular reactions

A method is given for computing the rate coefficient of a unimolecular reaction as an eigenvalue solution of an integral master equation, based on Nesbet's algorithm, which overcomes computational difficulties associated with this problem. An illustrative fit to pressure-dependent data on the pyrolysis of azoethane is presented.     

Theoretical calculations of the unimolecular canonical rate constants

Microcanonical rate constants k(E) and canonical rate constants k(T) for unimolecular reactions have been obtained through the calculations of cumulative reaction probabilities N(E) with the unsymmetrical Eckart potential tunneling correction. By way of example, the reactions HCN→CNH (I) and FNC→NCF (II) have been employed. For reaction (I), the calculated rate constants are in agreement with the experimental data; for reaction (II), the results are in accordance with the rate constants kCVT/MEPSAG(T) calculated by the common program POLYRATE.     

Theoretical study on the unimolecular decomposition of thiophenol

The potential energy surface for the unimolecular decomposition of thiophenol (C(6)H(5)SH) is mapped out at two theoretical levels; BB1K/GTlarge and QCISD(T)/6-311+G(2d,p)//MP2/6-31G(d,p). Calculated reaction rate constants at the high pressure limit indicate that the major initial channel is the formation of C(6)H(6)S at all temperatures. Above 1000 K, the contribution from direct fission of the S-H bond becomes important. Other decomposition channels, including expulsion of H(2) and H(2)S are of negligible importance. The formation of C(6)H(6)S is predicted to be strong-pressure dependent above 900 K. Further decomposition of C(6)H(6)S produces CS and C(5)H(6). Overall, despite the significant difference in bond dissociation, i.e., 8-9 kcal/mol between the S-H bond in thiophenol and the O-H bond in phenol, H migration at the ortho position in the two molecules represents the most accessible initial channel.     

Angular momentum conservation in multichannel unimolecular reactions

A recently developed solution of the master equation for unimolecular and recombination reactions is extended to give new means for incorporating angular momentum (J) conservation in the fall-off regime for multichannel reactions. The calculated pressure dependence of a typical multichannel unimolecular dissociation reaction (thermal dissociation of 1-iodopropane) shows that if one of the channels has a transition state with a moment of inertia (I?) significantly different from that of the parent molecule (I) (e.g., a “simple-fission” type), neglect of angular momentum conservation causes the predicted branching ratio to be grossly in error at lower pressures. Specifically, if I? > I the rate coefficient is underestimated whereas if I? < I the rate coefficient is overestimated.     

Ab initio study of the unimolecular pyrolysis mechanisms of monothioformic acid

The mechanisms of the possible unimolecular reactions occurring during the pyrolysis of the four tautomers (two conformers of thiol- and two conformers of thiono-) of monothioformic acid have been proposed and investigated by ab initio methods with STO-3G and 6-31G⁷ basis sets. The effects of valence electron correlation were included by Møller-Plesset (MP) perturbation theory to the fourth order at the 6-31G⁷ level. Our best results of the activation energies are given by MP4/6-31G⁷//HF/ 6-31G⁷ plus scaled zero-point energy. The barrier heights of the dehydrogenation (via a four-centre transition state) and dehydrogensuphidation (via a three-centre transition state) of thiolformic acid pyrolysis are 67.47 and 67.09 kcal mol⁻¹ respectively. The s-cis thionformic acid is dehydrated via a three-centre transition state. The activation energy of the process (81.18 kcal mol⁻¹) is much higher than the activation energy of the dehydrogenation of the s-trans form (68.83 kcal mol⁻¹) which is dehydrogenated via a four-centre transition state. These results suggest that in thionformic acid pyrolysis, the dehyrogenation of the s-cis form is more favourable than the dehydration of the s-trans form.     

A quantum chemical investigation of pyrolysis reactions of glyoxylic acid ethylester

Two possible reaction paths for the pyrolysis of the ethylester of glyoxylic acid have been studied by ab initio molecular orbital calculations. The basis sets 3-21G and 6-31G * have been used, and electron correlation has been included by Møller–Plesset calculations up to fourth order. Our calculations indicate that the reaction leading to acid and ethylene through a 6-membered ring transition state is favored relative to a process involving a formyl hydrogen transfer via a 5-membered ring to the alkyl unit leading to ethane, CO, and CO₂. The predicted activation energies for these two reactions obtained at the highest level of calculation, MP 4(SDTQ )/6–31G *, are 50.4 and 71.7 kcal/mol, respectively. The transition states have RHF wave functions that are stable relative to UHF solutions using the 3–21G basis. The geometry of the transition states and IRC following indicate that both reactions are strongly asynchronous: The C? O bond rupture is virtually completed before hydrogen transfer occurs. For comparative purposes, analogous calculations have been performed for the ethylester of formic acid, where it is confirmed that a 6-membered ring transition state is preferred relative to a 4-membered one by around 42 kcal/mol at the highest level of calculation.     

The pyrolysis of trimethylene sulfide. A unimolecular decomposition

The kinetics of decomposition of trimethylene sulfide to ethylene and thioformaldehyde was investigated in a single-pulse shock tube using the «relative rate» technique. The extent of reaction was measured in the reflected shock regime from 860° to 1170°K, but experimental difficulties limited the useful data to the temperature range of 980°–1040°K. The first-order rate constant was found to be k = 10^13.0 exp (?48,200/RT) sec^?1. This result sets an upper limit of 50 kcal/mole for the standard enthalpy of formation of CH₂S, with 35 kcal/mole as a more likely value. The isomerization of cyclopropane to propene was used for the reference reaction; in turn, this was checked, in a relative rate experiment, against the pyrolysis of cyclohexene.     

Master equation simulations of competing unimolecular and bimolecular reactions: application to OH production in the reaction of acetyl radical with O2

Master equation calculations were carried out to simulate the production of hydroxyl free radicals initiated by the reaction of acetyl free radicals (CH3(C=O).) with molecular oxygen. In particular, the competition between the unimolecular reactions and bimolecular reactions of vibrationally excited intermediates was modeled by using a single master equation. The vibrationally excited intermediates (isomers of acetylperoxyl radicals) result from the initial reaction of acetyl free radical with O2. The bimolecular reactions were modeled using a novel pseudo-first-order microcanonical rate constant approach. Stationary points on the multi-well, multi-channel potential energy surface (PES) were calculated at the DFT(B3LYP)/6-311G(2df,p) level of theory. Some additional calculations were carried out at the CASPT2(7,5)/6-31G(d) level of theory to investigate barrierless reactions and other features of the PES. The master equation simulations are in excellent agreement with the experimental OH yields measured in N2 or He buffer gas near 300 K, but they do not explain a recent report that the OH yields are independent of pressure in nearly pure O2 buffer gas.     

Theoretical studies on the acid hydrolysis of acetamide

The mechanism of the A2 hydrolysis of acetamide has been investigated theoretically using MNDO Method. Fully optimized geometries of all species at the stationary points corresponding to energy minima and energy maxima along the reaction coordinate are determined for the two reaction paths: the rate-determining nucleophilic attack of water on the carbonyl carbon (i) of the O-protonated tautomer and (ii) of the N-protonated form. Results show that the latter provides a lower energy path by 7.5 Kcal/Mol compared to the former.Tetrahedral species' found were not at the energy minima but at or near the saddle points. Optimizied structures and formal charges on heavy atoms showed that the bond interchange with the concurrent proton interchange takes place at the rate-determining step. The negative charge on N atom was found to increase in the rate-determining step relative to that of the ground state, the O-protonated acetamide, and hence substitution of electron withdrowing group on N is predicted to depress the activation energy in agreement with the experimental results.     

Theoretical study of the thermal unimolecular rearrangement of fluoroethylidenes

The thermal unimolecular isomerization of fluoroethylidenes to the corresponding fluoroethylenes has been studied by the MNDO method. It has been shown that fluorine substitution on the carbene carbon increases the activation energy in comparison with the ethylidene rearrangement. To understand the reason for this increase in the activation energy, the charge-transfer effects have been analyzed. Fluorine substitution at other positions does not significantly affect the activation energies. The thermodynamic parameters for the reaction have been evaluated, using vibrational and rotational spectral data calculated in this work. RRKM calculations have been performed and high-pressure Arrhenius parameters calculated. Hydrogen–deuterium kinetic isotope effects indicate that the reaction rates are altered considerably on isotopic substitution, and the change in reaction rates depends upon the position of deuterium substitution, as well as on the number of hydrogens replaced by deuterium atoms. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Revisiting falloff curves of thermal unimolecular reactions

Master equations for thermal unimolecular reactions and the reverse thermal recombination reactions are solved for a series of model reaction systems and evaluated with respect to broadening factors. It is shown that weak collision center broadening factors F(cent) (wc) can approximately be related to the collision efficiencies β(c) through a relation F(cent) (wc) ≈ max {β(c) (0.14), 0.64(±0.03)}. In addition, it is investigated to what extent weak collision falloff curves in general can be expressed by the limiting low and high pressure rate coefficients together with central broadening factors F(cent) only. It is shown that there cannot be one "best" analytical expression for broadening factors F(x) as a function of the reduced pressure scale x = k(0)∕k(∞). Instead, modelled falloff curves of various reaction systems, for given k(0), k(∞), and F(cent), fall into a band of about 10% width in F(x). A series of analytical expressions for F(x), from simple symmetric to more elaborate asymmetric broadening factors, are compared and shown to reproduce the band of modelled broadening factors with satisfactory accuracy.     

Modeling unimolecular reactions in photoelectron photoion coincidence experiments

A computer program has been developed to model and analyze the data from photoelectron photoion coincidence (PEPICO) spectroscopy experiments. This code has been used during the past 12 years to extract thermochemical and kinetics information for almost a hundred systems, and the results have been published in over forty papers. It models the dissociative photoionization process in the threshold PEPICO experiment by calculating the thermal energy distribution of the neutral molecule, the energy distribution of the molecular ion as a function of the photon energy, and the resolution of the experiment. Parallel or consecutive dissociation paths of the molecular ion and also of the resulting fragment ions are modeled to reproduce the experimental breakdown curves and time‐of‐flight distributions. The latter are used to extract the experimental dissociation rates. For slow dissociations, either the quasi‐exponential fragment peak shapes or, when the mass resolution is insufficient to model the peak shapes explicitly, the center of mass of the peaks can be used to obtain the rate constants. The internal energy distribution of the fragment ions is calculated from the densities of states using the microcanonical formalism to describe consecutive dissociations. Dissociation rates can be calculated by the RRKM, SSACM or VTST rate theories, and can include tunneling effects, as well. Isomerization of the dissociating ions can also be considered using analytical formulae for the dissociation rates either from the original or the isomer ions. The program can optimize the various input parameters to find a good fit to the experimental data, using the downhill simplex algorithm. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Energy transfer in unimolecular reactions at high temperatures

The application of modern theories of energy transfer to unimolecular reactions taking place at very high temperatures is discussed. It is shown that the efficiency of energy transfer for both reactant–reactant and reactant–inert diluent collisions may be substantially smaller than the values determined experimentally at lower temperatures. Consequently at high temperatures unimolecular falloff effects, particularly in some shock-tube measurements, may be greater than has been believed hitherto. The application of these calculations to the unimolecular reactions of cyclopropane, cyclobutane, and cyclohexene at temperatures around 1300°K is discussed, and it is shown that under shock-tube conditions the apparent first-order rate coefficient may be at least ten times less than the high-pressure limiting value.     

Ab initio quantum-chemical study of the unimolecular pyrolysis mechanisms of acetic acid

The mechanisms of unimolecular dehydration and decarboxylation reactions occurring during the pyrolysis of acetic acid above 700°C have been investigated by ab initio methods. The atomic basis set influence as well as the electron correlation effects are analyzed by using a variety of basis sets, ranging from minimal to polarized split-valence, and by introducing the Møller-Plesset (MP) perturbation theory. With an activation barrier of 76.0 kcal mol⁻¹, the concerted dehydration process occurs via a four-centre transition state. On the other hand, the decarboxylation process could be described by two different mechanisms depending on the nature of the kinetic experiments. While in flow systems, the decarboxylation of acetic acid takes place by a concerted mechanism via a four-centre transition state with an activation energy of 77.3 kcal mol⁻, the results suggest rather a water-catalyzed concerted mechanism via a six-membered transition state for the reaction carried out in batch systems, the activation barrier amounting to 64.0 kcal mol⁻¹.