Theoretical study of the mechanism and rate constant of the B + CO2 reaction

The different stationary points on the potential energy surface relative to the title reaction have been reinvestigated at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ level with relative energies computed at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ level with B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ optimized geometries and by using the G3B3 composite method. Two entrance channels have been identified. The first one corresponds to boron addition at one of the oxygen atoms of the CO 2 molecule leading to trans-BOCO, which is found to be about 27 kcal/mol exothermic with a potential energy barrier of 16.4 kcal/mol (G3B3). The second channel, which has not been identified in previous theoretical works, corresponds to a direct insertion of the boron atom into a CO bond and leads to OBCO. The B + CO 2 --> OBCO step is found to be about 84 kcal/mol exothermic and needs to overcome a potential energy barrier of only 3.6 kcal/mol (G3B3). The rate constant at 300 K of the insertion step, calculated by using TST theory with G3B3 calculated activation energy value, is 5.4 10 (-14) cm (3) molecule (-1) s (-1), in very good agreement with the experimental data ((7.0 +/- 2.8) 10 (-14) cm (3) molecule (-1) s (-1), DiGiuseppe, T. G.; Davidovits, P. J. Chem. Phys. 1981, 74, 3287). The one corresponding to the addition process is found to be several orders of magnitude smaller because of a much higher potential energy barrier. The addition channel would not contribute to the title reaction even at high temperature. A modified Arrhenius equation has been fitted in the 300-1000 K temperature range, which might be useful for chemical models.