Thermal decomposition of dichloroketene and its reaction with H atoms

The thermal unimolecular decomposition of dichloroketene CCl₂CO → CCl₂ + CO (reaction 1) was studied experimentally and computationally. Dichloroketene was produced by the pulsed laser photolysis of hexachloroacetone, and the kinetics of its decay due to reaction 1 was monitored using photoionization mass spectrometry. Rate constants of reaction 1 were determined in direct time-resolved experiments as a function of temperature (740–870 K) and bath gas density ([He] = (3–25) × 10¹⁶ atom cm⁻³, [N₂] = 12 × 10¹⁶ molecule cm⁻³). Reaction 1 is in the falloff region under these conditions. The potential energy surface (PES) of reaction 1 was studied using quantum chemical methods. The experimental k₁ (T, P) dependence was reproduced with an RRKM/master equation model based on quantum chemical calculations. Parameterized expressions for the rate constants of reaction 1 and the reverse reaction, that of CCl₂ with CO, were obtained over wide ranges of temperatures and pressures. The enthalpy of formation of CCl₂CO was determined in quantum chemical calculations. The kinetics of the reaction of dichloroketene with hydrogen atoms (reaction 2), an important channel of destruction of CCl₂CO in flames, was studied computationally. The PES of reaction 2 was studied using quantum chemical methods. Temperature and pressure dependences of the rate constants of the four dominant reaction channels were obtained in transition state theory and master equation calculations; the technique of isodesmic reactions for transition states was applied to the channel of Cl atom abstraction. Analysis of the experimental data and the computational models of reactions 1 and 2 demonstrates that thermal decomposition is a major pathway of destruction for dichloroketene in combustion systems.