Ab initio and RRKM study of the HCN/HNC elimination channels from vinyl cyanide

Ab initio CCSD and CCSD(T) calculations with the 6-311+G(2d,2p) and the 6-311++G(3df,3pd) basis sets were carried out to characterize the vinyl cyanide (C(3)H(3)N) dissociation channels leading to hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and its isomer hydrogen isocyanide (HNC). Our computations predict three elimination channels giving rise to HCN and another four channels leading to HNC formation. The relative HCN/HNC branching ratios as a function of internal energy of vinyl cyanide were computed using RRKM theory and the kinetic Monte Carlo method. At low internal energies (120 kcal/mol), the total HCN/HNC ratio is about 14, but at 148 kcal/mol (193 nm) this ratio becomes 1.9, in contrast with the value 124 obtained in a previous ab initio/RRKM study at 193 nm (Derecskei-Kovacs, A.; North, S. W. J. Chem. Phys.1999, 110, 2862). Moreover, our theoretical results predict a ratio of rovibrationally excited acetylene over total acetylene of 3.3, in perfect agreement with very recent experimental measurements (Wilhelm, M. J.; Nikow, M.; Letendre, L.; Dai, H.-L. J. Chem. Phys.2009, 130, 044307).