Theoretical investigation of nitration and nitrosation of dimethylamine by N2O4

Reactive nitrogen oxygen species (RNOS) contribute to the deleterious effects attributed to reacting with biomolecules. The mechanisms of the nitration and nitrosation of dimethylamine (DMA), which is the simplest secondary amine by N2O4, a member of RNOS, have been investigated at the CBS-QB3 level of theory. The nitration and nitrosation proceed via different pathways. The nitration of DMA follows three pathways. The first is the abstraction of the hydrogen atom of the amino group of DMA by the NO2 radical followed by a recombination reaction of the resulting aminyl radical with another NO2 radical. The second is DMA directly reacting with symmetrical O2NNO2 leading to dimethylnitramine via a concerted and a stepwise mechanism. The third is the reaction of DMA with asymmetrical ONONO2. By computation, the main pathway for the formation of dimethylnitramine in the gas phase is by DMA directly reacting with asymmetrical ONONO2. As to the nitrosation, a concerted mechanism for the reaction of DMA with asymmetrical ONONO2 plays a major role in nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) formation. In addition, the solvent effect on these nitration and nitrosation reactions has been also studied by using the implicit polarizable continuum model. Two major pathways of the formation of dimethylnitramine in water were found, and they are the radical process involving NO2 and the concerted mechanism starting from symmetrical O2NNO2. The result of the nitrosation of DMA in water is consistent with that in the gas phase. Comparison of the energy barriers of each mechanism leads to the conclusion that the nitrosation is more favorable than the nitration in the reaction of DMA with N2O4. This conclusion is in good agreement with the experimental results. The results obtained here will help elucidate the mechanism of the lesions of biomolecules by RNOS.