Gaseous ion activation dynamics: the role of the bulk gas in the racemization of chiral oxonium ions.

The kinetics of the inversion of configuration of a family of chiral oxonium ions, that is, O-protonated 1-aryl-1-methoxyethanes YMe+], were investigated in two different gaseous media (in CH3X with X=F and X=Cl) at 720 torr of pressure and in the temperature range: 25-140 degrees C. The activation parameters of the YMe+] inversion reaction were found to obey two different isokinetic relationships (IKR), depending on the nature and the position of the substituents in the oxonium ions and on the nature of the bulk gas employed. The observation of two IKR for the same family of reactions was related to a switchover in the resonant vibrational energy exchange between the reactants' critical mode, active in the transition state (omega), and the discrete vibrational levels v of the bulk gas. In CH3F, this vibrational-vibrational coupling switchover concerns the out-of-plane C-F...H-O bending) the phi family) and the H3C-F stretching (the gamma family) modes in the proton-bound CH3F.YMe+] complex. In CH3Cl, the coupling switchover concerns the out-of-plane C-Cl...H-O bending (the phi family) and the H3C-Cl methyl group rocking (the gamma family) modes in the proton-bound CH3Cl.YMe+] complex. The YMe+] activation dynamics also determine the inversion dynamics. The YMe+]ret<==>YMe+]inv isomerization for the phi family involves the same "thermodynamically most favorable" transition state in both the CH3F and the CH3Cl media, whereas the same process for the gamma family proceeds through different, dynamically favored transition states.