Theoretical investigation on the mechanism and kinetics of OH radical with ethylbenzene

The OH hydrogen abstraction and addition with ethylbenzene have been studied in the range 298–1000 K using quantum chemistry methods. The geometries and frequencies of the reactants, transition states, and products were performed at BH and HLYP/6‐311++G(d,p) level, single point calculation for all the stationary points were carried out at CCSD(T) calculations of the optimized structures with the same basis set. Nine different reaction paths are considered corresponding to two side chain, three possible ring hydrogen abstraction, and four kinds different OH addition. The results of the theoretical study indicate that at the room temperature the reaction proceeds almost exclusively through OH addition, and is predicted to occur dominantly at the ortho position, the calculated overall rate constant is 6.72 × 10^?12 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1, showing a very good agreement with available experimental data. Although negligible at low temperature, at 1000 K ring hydrogen abstraction accounts for about 32% of the total abstraction reaction, and the whole hydrogen abstraction makes up for 30% of the total reaction. This study may provide useful information on understanding the mechanistic features of OH‐initiated oxidation of ethylbenzene. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011