Quasi-classical trajectory study of the dynamics of the Cl + CH4→ HCl + CH3 reaction

We present an on-the-fly classical trajectory study of the Cl + CH(4)→ HCl + CH(3) reaction using a specific reaction parameter (SRP) AM1 Hamiltonian that was previously optimized for the Cl + ethane reaction [S. J. Greaves et al., J. Phys Chem A, 2008, 112, 9387]. The SRP-AM1 Hamiltonian is shown to be a good model for the potential energy surface of the title reaction. Calculated differential cross sections, obtained from trajectories propagated with the SRP-AM1 Hamiltonian compare favourably with experimental results for this system. Analysis of the vibrational modes of the methyl radical shows different scattering distributions for ground and vibrationally excited products.     

Quasi-classical trajectory approach to the stereo-dynamics of the reaction F+HO→HF+O

Quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations are employed for the reaction F + HO(0,0)→HF + O based on the adiabatic potential energy surface (PES) of the ground 3A″triplet state. The average rotational alignment factor P2(j′·k) as a function of collision energy and the four polarization dependent generalized differential cross sections have been calculated in the center-of-mass (CM) frame, separately. The distribution P(θr) of the angle between k and j′, the distribution P(θr) of dihedral angle denoting k-k′-j′ correlation, and the angular distribution P(θr, Φr) of product rotational vectors in the form of polar plots are calculated as well. The effect of Heavy-Light-Heavy (HLH) mass combination and atom F's relatively strong absorbability to charges on the alignment and the orientation of product molecule HF rotational angular momentum vectors j′ is revealed.     

Quasi-classical trajectory study of the S + OH → SO + H reaction: from reaction probability to thermal rate constant

First quasi-classical trajectory calculations have been carried out for the S((3)P) + OH(X?(2)Π) → SO(X?(3)Σ(-)) + H((2)S) reaction on an ab initio global potential energy surface for the ground electronic state, X?(2)A', of HSO. Cross sections, computed for collision energies up to 1 eV, show no energy threshold and decrease with the increasing collision energy. Rate constants have been calculated in the 5-500 K temperature range. The thermal rate constant is in good agreement with approximate quantum results, while a disagreement is found at 298 K with the experimental data. Product energy distributions have also been reported at four collision energies from 0.001 to 0.5 eV. The shapes of the rovibrational and angular distributions suggest the formation of an intermediate complex that is more and more long-lived as the collision energy increases.     

Quasi-classical trajectory study of the Ne + H2(+) → NeH(+) + H reaction based on global potential energy surface

Using the multireference configuration interaction method with a Davidson correction and a large orbital basis set (aug-cc-pVQZ), we obtain an energy grid that includes 32 038 points for the construction of a new analytical potential energy surface (APES) for the Ne + H(2)(+) → NeH(+) + H reaction. The APES is represented as a many-body expansion containing 142 parameters, which are fitted from 31?000 ab initio energies using an adaptive nonlinear least-squares algorithm. The geometric characteristics of the reported APES and the one presented here are also compared. On the basis of the APES we obtained, reaction cross sections are computed by means of quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations and compared with the experimental and theoretical data in the literature.     

Quasi-classical trajectory study of the H + CO2 → HO + CO reaction on a new ab initio based potential energy surface

A detailed quasi-classical trajectory study of the H + CO(2) → HO + CO reaction is reported on an accurate potential energy surface based on ab initio data. The influence of the vibrational and rotational excitations of CO(2) was investigated up to the collision energy of 2.35 eV. It was found that the total reaction integral cross section increases monotonically with the collision energy, consistent with experimental results. The excitation of the CO(2) bending vibration enhances the reaction, while the excitation in its asymmetric stretching vibration inhibits the reaction. The calculated thermal rate constants are in excellent agreement with experiment. At the state-to-state level, the rotational state distributions of the HO product are in good agreement with experimental results, while those for the CO product are much hotter than measurements. The calculated differential cross sections are dominated by forward scattering, suggesting that the lifetime of the HOCO intermediate may not be sufficiently long to render the reaction completely statistical.     

Quasi-classical trajectory study of the HO + CO → H + CO2 reaction on a new ab initio based potential energy surface

We report extensive quasi-classical trajectory calculations of the HO + CO → H + CO(2) reaction on a newly developed potential energy surface based on a large number of UCCSD(T)-F12/AVTZ calculations. This complex-forming reaction is known for its unusual kinetics and dynamics because of its unique potential energy surface, which is dominated by the HOCO wells flanked by an entrance channel bottleneck and a transition state leading to the H + CO(2) products. It was found that the thermal rate coefficients are in reasonably good agreement with known experimental data in both low and high pressure limits. Excitation of the OH vibration is shown to enhance reactivity, due apparently to its promoting effect over the transition state between the HOCO intermediate and the H + CO(2) product. On the other hand, neither CO vibrational excitation nor rotational excitation in either CO or OH has a significant effect on reactivity, in agreement with experiment. However, significant discrepancies have been found between theory and the available molecular beam experiments. For example, the calculated translational energy distribution of the products substantially underestimates the experiment. In addition, the forward bias in the differential cross section observed in the experiment was not reproduced theoretically. While the origin of the discrepancies is still not clear, it is argued that a quantum mechanical treatment of the dynamics might be needed.     

Quasiclassical trajectory study of the reaction O(3P) + HI → OH + I

Three-dimensional quasiclassical trajectory calculations were carried out for the reaction of oxygen atoms O(³P) with hydrogen iodide molecules (HI and DI) for the temperature range 200–550 K, using a LEPS potential-energy surface. The calculated results include reaction cross sections, rate constants, kinetic isotope effects, the influence of vibrational and rotational excitation of the reactants on the dynamics, and the product energy partitioning and angular distribution. The calculated results are in good agreement with the available experimental results. The dynamics of the O + HI reaction is discussed in view of the associated mass combination H + LH′ (H and H′ are heavy atoms and L is a light atom), and in relation to earlier trajectory results for the reactions O + HCl and O + HBr.     

Quantum-mechanical study of the parallel molecule-surface reaction HCl + S → HS + Cl

Quantum-mechanical transition probabilities are presented for the molecule HCl(υ_i) reacting with a solid surface S, i.e. HCl(υ_i)+S → HS+Cl; υ_i = 0,…,4. The calculations were done for a fixed parallel approach (γ = π/2) of the molecule. Results are shown as a function of total energy E_tot for the energy range 1.95 ⩽ E_tot ⩽ 3.3 eV.     

Quantum dynamics calculation of reaction probability for H + Cl2 → HCl + Cl

We present in this paper a time-dependent quantum wave packet calculation of the initial state selected reaction probability for H + Cl₂ based on the GHNS potential energy surface with total angular momentumJ = 0. The effects of the translational, vibrational and rotational excitation of Cl₂ on the reaction probability have been investigated. In a broad region of the translational energy, the rotational excitation enhances the reaction probability while the vibrational excitation depresses the reaction probability. The theoretical results agree well with the fact that it is an early down-hill reaction.     

Quasi-classical Trajectory Study of Ba+HI→BaI+H Reaction

The quasi-classical trajectory calculations based on extended London-Eyring-Polanyi-Sato potential energy surface have been used to study the reaction of Ba+HI→BaI+H system. The rotational, vibrational, translational, and angular distributions of the product BaI have been calculated. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental ones.     

Theoretical studies on the reaction path and dynamics of the reaction CH_3+H_2O→CH_4+OH

The reaction path, the dynamical properties along the reaction path and CVT rate constants are computed by the ab initio MO method, the reaction path Hamiltonian theory and the variational transition state theory. The results show that the effect of the electron correlation energy on activation barrier is large, the recrossing and tunneling effects exist in the reaction.     

Quantum dynamics of the S+OH→SO+H reaction

First accurate quantum mechanical scattering calculations have been carried out for the S((3)P)+OH(X?(2)Π)→SO(X?(3)Σ(-))+H((2)S) reaction using a recent ab initio potential energy surface for the ground electronic state, X?(2)A("), of HSO. Total and state-to-state reaction probabilities for a total angular momentum J=0 have been determined for collision energies up to 0.5 eV. A rate constant has been calculated by means of the J-shifting approach in the 10-400 K temperature range. Vibrational and rotational product distributions show no specific behavior and are consistent with a mixture of direct and indirect reaction mechanisms.     

Exact quantum and TST-CEQ study of the collinear reaction O+HCl

Exact quantum calculations of reaction probabilities have been carried out using hyperspherical coordinates for the collinearr reaction O+HCl(v <1) -OH(v'<1)+Cl . A generalized LEPS potential energy surface with a barrier height of 8.12 kcal/mol has been used in the calculations. According to the calculated results we found that (1) the reaction probability oscillates with energy, (2) the reaction probability shows vibrational adiabaticity, although it is poorer than that for symmetric reaction Cl + HC1. The analysis of resonance has also been done. The reaction rate constants and average cross sections have been calculated by TST-CEQ method. The rate constants are in agreement with that by QCT and smaller than the experimental one. Finally, the threshold has been estimated and is in good agreement with that of the literature.     

Lack of salt effect on the kinetics of the reaction SO2−4 + H3O+ → HSO−4 + H2O

It is found that the broadening of the 1100-cm⁻¹ line of SO⁻²₄, caused by increasing [H₃O⁺], is unaffected by addition of 4 M LiCl, NaBr, KCl and NH₄Cl. This finding is in line with the lack of influence of NaCl reported earlier. The significance of these findings, in terms of the reaction mechanism, is discussed.     

Comment on the possible role of the reaction H+H2O→H2+OH in the radiolysis of water at high temperatures

In a recent paper (Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 2005, vol. 74, pp. 210) it was suggested that the anomalous increase of molecular hydrogen radiolysis yields observed in high-temperature water is explained by a high activation energy for the reaction H+H₂O→H₂+OH. In this comment we present thermodynamic arguments to demonstrate that this reaction cannot be as fast as suggested. A best estimate for the rate constant is 2.2×10³ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ at 300 °C. Central to this argument is an estimate of the OH radical hydration free energy vs. temperature, ΔG_hyd(OH)=0.0278t−18.4 kJ/mole (t in °C, equidensity standard states), which is based on analogy with the hydration free energy of water and of hydrogen peroxide.     

Time-sliced ion-velocity imaging study of the reaction Y + O2 → YO + O

The oxidation reaction dynamics of the gas-phase yttrium atoms by oxygen molecules was studied under crossed-beam conditions. The product YO was detected using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer combined with laser single-photon ionization. An acceleration lens system designed for the ion-velocity mapping conditions, a two-dimensional (2-D) detector, and a time-slicing technique were used to obtain the velocity and angular distributions of the products. Two ionization wavelengths were used for the internal (vibrational and/or electronic) energy selective detection of YO. The single photon of the shorter wavelength (202.0 nm) can ionize all states of YO(X?(2)Σ, A'?(2)Δ, and A?(2)Π), while electronically excited YO(A' and A) are dominantly ionized at a longer wavelength (285.0 nm). Time-sliced images were converted to the velocity and angular distributions in the center-of-mass frame. The general features of the velocity distributions of YO, determined at two wavelengths, were well represented by those expected from the statistical energy disposal model. The forward-backward symmetry was also observed for two images. These results suggest that the reaction proceeds via long-lived intermediates, and that this mechanism is consistent with previous chemiluminescence/LIF studies.     

A theoretical study of the H2SO4+H2O → HSO4 −+H3O+ reaction at the surface of aqueous aerosols

The surface region of sulfate aerosols (supercooled aqueous concentrated sulfuric acid solutions) is the likely site of a number of important heterogeneous reactions in various locations in the atmosphere, but the surface region ionic composition is not known. As a first step in exploring this issue, the first acid ionization reaction for sulfuric acid, H₂SO₄ + H₂O HSO₄^– + H₃O⁺, is studied via electronic structure calculations at the Hartree–Fock level on an H₂SO₄ molecule embedded in the surface region of a cluster containing 33 water molecules. An initial H₂SO₄ configuration is selected which could produce H₃O⁺ readily available for heterogeneous reactions, but which involves reduced solvation and is consistent with no dangling OH bonds for H₂SO₄. It is found that at 0 K and with zero-point energy included, the proton transfer is endothermic by 3.4 kcal/mol. This result is discussed in the context of reactions on sulfate aerosol surfaces and, further, more complex calculations.Contribution to the Jacopo Tomasi Honorary Issue     

Dynamic aspects of the reaction O(1D) + H2S → OH + SH

The energy distribution of nascent OH(²Π, υ, J) produced in the reaction of O(¹D) with H₂S has been measured by laser-induced fluorescence. The rotational distributions in υ″ = 0 and υ″ = 1 are Boltzmannian with temperature parameters T_r″-0 = 2300 ± 100 K and T_r⁻-1 = 2650 ± 150 K. A population ratio N(υ″ = 1)/N(υ″ = 0) = 0.17 is observed. The product-state distribution over the different spin and A components is statistically within the experimental uncertainty of 20%. A comparison of the OH product populations from the title reaction with the well known OH yield from the O(¹D)+H₂O reaction shows that 25% of the reactive encounters follow the reaction channel which produces OH in υ″ = 0 and υ″ = 1.     

Quantum dynamics calculation of reaction probability for H + Cl2 → HCl + Cl

We present in this paper a time-dependent quantum wave packet calculation of the initial state selected reaction probability for H + Cl₂ based on the GHNS potential energy surface with total angular momentumJ = 0. The effects of the translational, vibrational and rotational excitation of Cl₂ on the reaction probability have been investigated. In a broad region of the translational energy, the rotational excitation enhances the reaction probability while the vibrational excitation depresses the reaction probability. The theoretical results agree well with the fact that it is an early down-hill reaction.     

Theoretical studies of the radical reaction H2CSiH2 + H

Ab initio molecular orbital calculations on the transition states and barrier heights for the addition of atomic hydrogen to silaethylene are carried out. The activation energy for the addition to the silicon site is lower than that to the carbon site, while the exothermicity is smaller.