Influence of substituents in vinyl groups on reactivity of parylene during polymerization process

The MCSCF calculations indicate that both triplet and singlet state of biradical di-para-xylylene can exist during polymerization of parylene in gas phase and both can potentially react with vinyl molecules. The singlet-state open-shell dimer turned out to exhibit multiconfigurational character. In the case of triplet state of the dimer two mechanisms of the reactions with various species containing vinyl groups have been examined at the B3LYP/6-31G level. The kinetic and thermodynamical barriers have been estimated for the reaction path involving the π-bond cleavage as well as for the route describing the hydrogen atom transfer. It was found that the overall reactions are thermodynamically favorable, whereas appropriate kinetic barriers for certain derivatives are very small (close to 0 kcal/mol) which in turn makes allowances for easy reactivity under accessible conditions. The calculated mechanisms indicate the influence of substituents in vinyl groups for reactivity of parylene during LPCVD process.