Analysis of the intermolecular interactions between CH3OCH3, CF3OCH3, CF3OCF3, and CH2F2, CHF3

Hydrogen Abstraction from Fluorinated Ethyl Methyl Ether Systems by OH Radicals

A systematic computational investigation of hydrogen abstraction by OH from the full series of fluorinated ethyl methyl ethers (EME) containing at least one H and one F, C2HnX5-nOCHmX3-m (n=0–5, m=0–3; and n=m=0 not allowed), including 147 reactants and 469 transition states, has been carried out, employing the MP2/6-31G(d) level of theory. Results for optimized geometries, including evidence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding in transition states, and barrier heights are presented. Trends pertaining to the number of fluorines substituted, key bond lengths, barrier heights, and key bond angles were found with good correlations and were investigated. An increase in the number of F increases the barrier height of the reaction. An increase in some parameters such as C–H length of TS, relative change in C–H from reactants to TS, ∠COC of reactants, ∠HOH in the TS, and relative change in ∠HOH between TS and free water bond angle also correlates with increased barrier height. An increase in other parameters like C–H length in the reactants and hydrogen bonding can decrease the barrier height.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Swollen Membrane of Perfluorinated Ionomer

Molecular dynamics simulations of the swollen membrane of perfluorinated ionomer, which is composed of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) backbones and perfluosulfonic pendant side chains, have been undertaken to analyze the static and dynamic properties of the water and the side chain in the membrane. The calculations were carried out for four different water contents, 5, 10, 20 and 40 wt %, at 358.15 K and 0.1 MPa. The results are summarized as follows: (1) The sulfonic acid is the unique site to which water molecules can bind, and the other sites in the pendant side chain have no bound water even at high water concentration. (2) Sulfonic acids aggregate in the short range within 4.6-7.7 A despite the electrostatic repulsion between them. In such aggregates, a water molecule bridges two sulfonic acids. (3) Pendant side chains prefer to orient perpendicular to the hydrophilic/hydrophobic interface, and long-range correlation of side chain orientations is observed at 20 and 40 wt % water uptake membranes. (4) In a low water uptake membrane, the dynamics of water is substantially restricted due to strong attractive interactions with acidic sites. In contrast, at high water content, even the water locating near the sulfonic acid is relatively mobile. The short residence time of the bound water reveals that such water can frequently exchange position with relatively free water, which locates in the center of water cluster, in highly swollen membranes.