A Quasiclassical Trajectory Study of the Reaction H + O2 ⇔ OH + O with the O2 Reagent Vibrationally Excited

Role of the Vibrational and Translational Energies in the CN(v)+C2H6(ν1, ν2, ν5 and ν9) Reactions. A Theoretical QCT Study

Quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations were conducted on the newly developed full-dimensional potential energy surface, PES-2023, to analyse two critical aspects: the influence of vibrational versus translational energy in promoting reactivity, and the impact of vibrational excitation within similar vibrational modes. The former relates to Polanyi's rules, while the latter concerns mode selectivity. Initially, the investigation revealed that independent vibrational excitation by a single quantum of ethane's symmetric and asymmetric stretching modes (differing by only 15 cm-1) yielded comparable dynamics, reaction cross-sections, HCN(v) vibrational product distributions, and scattering distributions. This observation dismisses any significant mode selectivity. Moreover, an equivalent amount of energy provided as translational energy (at total energies of 9.6 and 20.0 kcal mol-1) gave rise to slightly lower reactivity compared to the same amount of energy provided as vibrational energy. This effect is more evident at low energies, presenting a counterintuitive scenario in an 'early transition state' reaction. These findings challenge the straightforward application of Polanyi's rules in polyatomic systems. Regarding CN(v) vibrational excitation, our calculations reveal that the reaction cross-section remains practically unaffected by this vibrational excitation, suggesting that the CN stretching mode is a spectator mode. The results were rationalized by considering several factors: the strong coupling between different vibrational modes, and between vibrational modes and the reaction coordinate; and a significant vibrational energy redistribution within the ethane reactant before collision. This redistribution creates an unphysical energy flow, resulting in loss of adiabaticity and vibrational memory before the reactants' collision. These theoretical findings require future confirmation through experimental or theoretical quantum mechanical studies, which are currently unavailable.

Molecular Dynamics of Combustion Reactions in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide. 6. Computational Kinetics of Reactions between Hydrogen Atom and Oxygen Molecule H + O2 ⇌ HO + O and H + O2 ⇌ HO2

Reactions of the hydrogen atom and the oxygen molecule are among the most important ones in the hydrogen and hydrocarbon oxidation mechanisms, including combustion in a supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) environment, known as oxy-combustion or the Allam cycle. Development of these energy technologies requires understanding of chemical kinetics of H + O₂ ⇌ HO + O and H + O₂ ⇌ HO₂ in high pressures and concentrations of CO₂. Here, we combine quantum treatment of the reaction system by the transition state theory with classical molecular dynamics simulation and the multistate empirical valence bonding method to treat environmental effects. Potential of mean force in the sCO₂ solvent at various temperatures 1000-2000 K and pressures 100-400 atm was obtained. The reaction rate for H + O₂ ⇌ HO + O was found to be pressure-independent and described by the extended Arrhenius equation 4.23 × 10^-7 T^-0.73 exp(-21 855.2 cal/mol/RT) cm³/molecule/s, while the reaction rate H + O₂ ⇌ HO₂ is pressure-dependent and can be expressed as 5.22 × 10^-2 T^-2.86 exp(-7247.4 cal/mol/RT) cm³/molecule/s at 300 atm.

Fully coupled (J > 0) time-dependent wave-packet calculations using hyperspherical coordinates for the H + O2 reaction on the CHIPR potential energy surface

ICS calculation by time dependent wavepacket approach for H + O₂ reaction using non-zero J values.

3D time-dependent wave-packet approach in hyperspherical coordinates for the H + O2 reaction on the CHIPR and DMBE IV potential energy surfaces

3D wavepacket quantum dynamics methodology ICS calculation of H + O₂ reaction on the CHIPR and DMBE IV PESs by J-shifting scheme.

Dynamics study of the OH + NH3 hydrogen abstraction reaction using QCT calculations based on an analytical potential energy surface

To understand the reactivity and mechanism of the OH + NH3 → H2O + NH2 gas-phase reaction, which evolves through wells in the entrance and exit channels, a detailed dynamics study was carried out using quasi-classical trajectory calculations. The calculations were performed on an analytical potential energy surface (PES) recently developed by our group, PES-2012 [Monge-Palacios et al. J. Chem. Phys. 138, 084305 (2013)]. Most of the available energy appeared as H2O product vibrational energy (54%), reproducing the only experimental evidence, while only the 21% of this energy appeared as NH2 co-product vibrational energy. Both products appeared with cold and broad rotational distributions. The excitation function (constant collision energy in the range 1.0-14.0 kcal mol(-1)) increases smoothly with energy, contrasting with the only theoretical information (reduced-dimensional quantum scattering calculations based on a simplified PES), which presented a peak at low collision energies, related to quantized states. Analysis of the individual reactive trajectories showed that different mechanisms operate depending on the collision energy. Thus, while at high energies (E(coll) ≥ 6 kcal mol(-1)) all trajectories are direct, at low energies about 20%-30% of trajectories are indirect, i.e., with the mediation of a trapping complex, mainly in the product well. Finally, the effect of the zero-point energy constraint on the dynamics properties was analyzed.

A classical trajectory study of the intramolecular dynamics, isomerization, and unimolecular dissociation of HO2

The classical dynamics and rates of isomerization and dissociation of HO2 have been studied using two potential energy surfaces (PESs) based on interpolative fittings of ab initio data: An interpolative moving least-squares (IMLS) surface [A. Li, D. Xie, R. Dawes, A. W. Jasper, J. Ma, and H. Guo, J. Chem. Phys. 133, 144306 (2010)] and the cubic-spline-fitted PES reported by Xu, Xie, Zhang, Lin, and Guo (XXZLG) [J. Chem. Phys. 127, 024304 (2007)]. Both PESs are based on similar, though not identical, internally contracted multi-reference configuration interaction with Davidson correction (icMRCI+Q) electronic structure calculations; the IMLS PES includes complete basis set (CBS) extrapolation. The coordinate range of the IMLS PES is limited to non-reactive processes. Surfaces-of-section show similar generally regular phase space structures for the IMLS and XXZLG PESs with increasing energy. The intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) at energies above and below the threshold of isomerization is slow, especially for O-O stretch excitations, consistent with the regularity in the surfaces-of-section. The slow IVR rates lead to mode-specific effects that are prominent for isomerization (on both the IMLS and XXZLG) and modest for unimolecular dissociation to H + O2 (accessible only on the XXZLG PES). Even with statistical distributions of initial energy, slow IVR rates result in double exponential decay for isomerization, with the slower rate correlated with slow IVR rates for O-O vibrational excitation. The IVR and isomerization rates computed for the IMLS and XXZLG PESs are quantitatively, but not qualitatively, different from one another with the largest differences ascribed to the ~2 kcal/mol difference in the isomerization barrier heights. The IMLS and XXZLG results are compared with those obtained using the global, semi-empirical double-many-body expansion DMBE-IV PES [M. R. Pastrana, L. A. M. Quintales, J. Brandão, and A. J. C. Varandas, J. Chem. Phys. 94, 8073 (1990)], for which the surfaces-of-section display more irregular phase space structure, much faster IVR rates, and significantly less mode-specific effects in isomerization and unimolecular dissociation. The calculated IVR results for all three PESs are reasonably well represented by an analytic, coupled three-mode energy transfer model.

QCT and QM calculations of the Cl(2P) + NH3 reaction: influence of the reactant well on the dynamics

A detailed dynamics study, using both quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) and reduced-dimensional quantum mechanical (QM) calculations, was carried out to understand the reactivity and mechanism of the Cl((2)P) + NH(3)→ HCl + NH(2) gas-phase reaction, which evolves through deep wells in the entry and exit channels. The calculations were performed on an analytical potential energy surface recently developed by our group, PES-2010 [M. Monge-Palacios, C. Rangel, J. C. Corchado and J. Espinosa-Garcia, Int. J. Quantum. Chem., 2011], together with a simplified model surface, mod-PES, in which the reactant well is removed to analyze its influence. The main finding was that the QCT and QM methods show a change of the reaction probability with collision energy, suggesting a change of the atomic-level mechanism of reaction with energy. This change disappeared when the mod-PES was used, showing that the behaviour at low energies is a direct consequence of the existence of the reactant well. Analysis of the trajectories showed that different mechanisms operate depending on the collision energy. Thus, while at high energies (E(coll) > 5 kcal mol(-1)) practically all trajectories are direct, at low energies (E(coll) < 3 kcal mol(-1)) the trajectories are indirect, i.e., with the mediation of a trapping complex in the entry and/or the exit wells. The reactant complex allows repeated encounters between the reactants, increasing the reaction probability at low energies. The differential cross section results reinforce this change of mechanism, showing also the influence of the reactant well on this reaction. Thus, the PES-2010 surface yields a forward-backward symmetry in the scattering, while when the reactant well is removed with the mod-PES the shape is more isotropic.

Kinetics and dynamics of the NH3 + H → NH2 + H2 reaction using transition state methods, quasi-classical trajectories, and quantum-mechanical scattering

On a recent analytical potential energy surface developed by two of the authors, an exhaustive kinetics study, using variational transition state theory with multidimensional tunneling effect, and dynamics study, using both quasi-classical trajectory and full-dimensional quantum scattering methods, was carried out to understand the reactivity of the NH(3) + H → NH(2) + H(2) gas-phase reaction. Initial state-selected time-dependent wave packet calculations using a full-dimensional model were performed, where the total reaction probabilities were calculated for the initial ground vibrational state and for four excited vibrational states of ammonia. Thermal rate constants were calculated for the temperature range 200-2000 K using the three methods and compared with available experimental data. We found that (a) the total reaction probabilities are very small, (b) the symmetric and asymmetric N-H stretch excitations enhance the reactivity, (c) the quantum-mechanical calculated thermal rate constants are about one order of magnitude smaller than the transition state theory results, which reproduce the experimental evidence, and (d) quasi-classical trajectory calculations, which were performed with the main goal of analyzing the influence of the zero-point energy problem on the final dynamics results, reproduce the quantum scattering calculations on the same surface.

Role of the C-H stretch mode excitation in the dynamics of the Cl + CHD3 reaction: a quasi-classical trajectory calculation

To analyze the effect of the C-H stretch mode excitation on the dynamics of the Cl + CHD3 gas-phase abstraction reaction, an exhaustive state-to-state dynamics study was performed. This reaction can evolve along two channels: H-abstraction, CD3 + ClH, and D-abstraction, CHD2 + ClD. On an analytical potential energy surface constructed previously by our group, named PES-2005, quasi-classical trajectory calculations were performed at a collision energy of 0.18 eV, including corrections to avoid zero-point energy leakage along the trajectories. First, strong coupling between different vibrational modes in the entry valley was observed; i.e., the reaction is vibrationally nonadiabatic. Second, for the ground-state CHD3(nu=0) reaction, the diatomic fragments appeared in their ground states, and the H- and D-abstraction reactions showed similar reactivities. However, when the reactivity per atom is considered, the H is three times more reactive than the D atom. Third, when the C-H stretch mode is excited by one quantum, CHD3(nu1=1), the H-abstraction is strongly favored, and the C-H stretch excitation is maintained in the product CHD2(nu1=1) + ClD channel; i.e., the reaction shows mode selectivity, reproducing the experimental evidence, and also the reactivity of the vibrational ground state is increased, in agreement with experiment. Fourth, the state-to-state angular distributions of the CD3 and CHD2 products showed the products to be practically sideways for the reactant ground state, while the C-H excitation yielded a more forward scattering, reproducing the experimental data. The role of the zero-point energy correction was also analyzed, and we find that the dynamics results are very sensitive on how the ZPE issue is treated. Finally, a comparison is made with the similar H + CHD3(nu1=0,1) and Cl + CH4(nu1=0,1) reactions.

State-to-state reaction probabilities for the H+O2(v,j)→O+OH(v′,j′) reaction on three potential energy surfaces

We report state-to-state and total reaction probabilities for J=0 and total reaction probabilities for J=2 and 4 for the title reaction, both for ground-state and initially rovibrationally excited reactants. The results for three different potential energy surfaces are compared and contrasted. The potential energy surfaces employed are the DMBE IV surface by Pastrana et al. [J. Phys. Chem. 94, 8073 (1990)], the surface by Troe and Ushakov (TU) [J. Chem. Phys. 115, 3621 (2001)], and the new XXZLG ab initio surface by Xu et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 122, 244305 (2005)]. Our results show that the total reaction probabilities from both the TU and XXZLG surfaces are much smaller in magnitude for collision energies above 1.2 eV compared to the DMBE IV surface. The three surfaces also show different behavior with regards to the effect of initial state excitation. The reactivity is increased on the XXZLG and the TU surfaces and decreased on the DMBE IV surface. Vibrational and rotational product state distributions for the XXZLG and the DMBE IV surface show different behaviors for both types of distributions. Our results show that for energies above 1.25 eV the dynamics on the DMBE IV surface are not statistical. However, there is also evidence that the dynamics on the XXZLG surface are not purely statistical for energies above the onset of the first excited product vibrational state v'=1. The magnitude of the total reaction probability is decreased for J>0 for the DMBE IV and the XXZLG surfaces for ground-state reactants. However, for initially rovibrationally excited reactants, the total reaction probability does not decrease as expected for both surfaces. As a result the total cross section averaged over all Boltzmann accessible rotational states may well be larger than the cross section reported in the literature for j=1.

Quasi-classical trajectory calculations analyzing the dynamics of the C-H stretch mode excitation in the H+CHD3 reaction

A state-to-state dynamics study was performed at a collision energy of 1.53 eV to analyze the effect of the C-H stretch mode excitation on the dynamics of the gas-phase H+CHD3 reaction, which can evolve along two channels, H-abstraction, CD3+H2, and D-abstraction, CHD2+HD. Quasi-classical trajectory calculations were performed on an analytical potential energy surface constructed previously by our group. First, strong coupling between different vibrational modes in the entry channel was observed; i.e., the reaction is non-adiabatic. Second, we found that the C-H stretch mode excitation has little influence on the product rotational distributions for both channels, and on the vibrational distribution for the CD3+H2 channel. However, it has significant influence on the product vibrational distribution for the CHD2+HD channel, where the C-H stretch excitation is maintained in the products, i.e., the reaction shows mode selectivity, reproducing the experimental evidence. Third, the C-H stretch excitation by one quantum increases the reactivity of the vibrational ground-state, in agreement with experiment. Fourth, the state-to-state angular distributions of the CD3 and CHD2 products are reported, finding that for the reactant ground-state the products are practically sideways, whereas the C-H excitation yields a more forward scattering.

Quasi-classical trajectory study of the F + CD4 reaction dynamics

To analyze the F + CD4 gas-phase abstraction reaction, an exhaustive state-to-state dynamics study was performed. Quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations, including corrections to avoid zero-point energy leakage along the trajectories, were used on an analytical potential energy surface (PES-2006) recently developed by our group for collision energies in the range 0.3-6.0 kcal mol-1. While the CD3 coproduct appears vibrationally and rotationally cold, in agreement with experiment, most of the available energy appears as FD(nu') product vibrational energy, peaking at nu' = 3, one unit colder than experiment. The excitation function reproduces experiment, with the maximum contribution from the most populated FD(nu' = 3) level. The state-specific scattering distributions at different collision energies also reproduce the experimental behavior, with a clear propensity toward forward scattering, this tendency increasing with the energy. These dynamics results show the capacity of the PES-2006 surface to correctly describe the title reaction.

New analytical potential energy surface for the F(2P)+CH4 hydrogen abstraction reaction: kinetics and dynamics

A new potential energy surface for the gas-phase F(2P)+CH4 reaction and its deuterated analogues is reported, and its kinetics and dynamics are studied exhaustively. This semiempirical surface is completely symmetric with respect to the permutation of the four methane hydrogen atoms, and it is calibrated to reproduce the topology of the reaction and the experimental thermal rate constants. For the kinetics, the thermal rate constants were calculated using variational transition-state theory with semiclassical transmission coefficients over a wide temperature range, 180-500 K. The theoretical results reproduce the experimental variation with temperature. The influence of the tunneling factor is negligible, due to the flattening of the surface in the entrance valley, and we found a direct dependence on temperature, and therefore positive and small activation energies, in agreement with experiment. Two sets of kinetic isotope effects were calculated, and they show good agreement with the sparse experimental data. The coupling between the reaction coordinate and the vibrational modes shows qualitatively that the FH stretching and the CH3 umbrella bending modes in the products appear vibrationally excited. The dynamics study was performed using quasi-classical trajectory calculations, including corrections to avoid zero-point energy leakage along the trajectories. First, we found that the FH(nu',j') rovibrational distributions agree with experiment. Second, the excitation function presents an oscillatory pattern, reminiscent of a reactive resonance. Third, the state specific scattering distributions present reasonable agreement with experiment, and as the FH(nu') vibrational state increases the scattering angle becomes more forward. These kinetics and dynamics results seem to indicate that a single, adiabatic potential energy surface is adequate to describe this reaction, and the reasonable agreement with experiment (always qualitative and sometimes quantitative) lends confidence to the new surface.

Product Angular Distribution for the H + CD4→ HD + CD3Reaction

Using an analytical potential energy surface previously developed by our group, namely PES-2002, we analyzed the gas-phase reaction between a hydrogen atom and perdeuterated methane. We studied the effect of quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) and reduced dimensionality quantum-scattering (QM) calculations, with their respective limitations, on CD3 product angular distributions in the collision energy range 16.1-46.1 kcal x mol(-1). It was found that at low collision energy, 16.1 kcal x mol(-1), both the QCT and QM calculations yielded forward scattered CD3 products, i.e., a rebound mechanism. However, at high energies only the QM calculations on the PES-2002 surface reproduced the angular scattering found experimentally.

Quasi-Classical Trajectory Calculations Analyzing the Reactivity and Dynamics of Asymmetric Stretch Mode Excitations of Methane in the H + CH4 Reaction

An exhaustive dynamics study was performed at two collision energies, 1.52 and 2.20 eV, analyzing the effects of the asymmetric (nu3) stretch mode excitation in the reactivity and dynamics of the gas-phase H + CH4 reaction. Quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations, including corrections to avoid zero-point energy leakage along the trajectories, were performed on an analytical potential energy surface previously developed by our group. First, strong coupling between different vibrational modes in the entry channel was observed, indicating that energy can flow between these modes, and therefore that they do not preserve their adiabatic character along the reaction path; i.e., the reaction is nonadiabatic. Second, we found that the reactant vibrational excitation has a significant influence on the vibrational and rotational product distributions. With respect to the vibrational distribution, our results confirm the purely qualitative experimental evidence, although the theoretical results presented here are also quantitative. The rotational distributions are predictive, because no experimental data have been reported. Third, with respect to the reactivity, we found that the nu3 mode excitation by one quantum is more reactive than the ground state by a factor of about 2, independently of the collision energy, and in agreement with the experimental measurement of 3.0 +/- 1.5. Fourth, the state-to-state angular distributions of the products reproduce the experimental behavior at 1.52 eV, where the CH3 products scatter sideways and backward. At 2.20 eV this experimental information is not available, and therefore the results reported here are again predictive. The satisfactory reproduction of a great variety of experimental data by the present QCT study lends confidence to the potential energy surface constructed by our group and to those results whose accuracy cannot be checked by comparison with experiment.

Quasi-classical Trajectory Calculations Analyzing the Role of Bending Mode Excitations of Methane in the Cl + CH4 Reaction

The effects of the methane torsional (nu(2)), umbrella (nu(4)), and the combination nu(2)+nu(4) bending mode excitations on the reactivity and dynamics of the gas-phase Cl + CH(4) --> HCl + CH(3) reaction were analyzed. Quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations, including corrections to avoid zero-point energy leakage along the trajectories, were used on an analytical potential energy surface previously developed by our group. With respect to the reactivity, we found that excitation of either bending mode independently gave similar increases in the reactivity, while the increase observed upon excitation of both modes was larger than the sum of the effect of exciting them independently. Both results agree with recent experimental measures. With respect to the dynamics (rotovibrational and angular distributions of the products), the two bending modes and their combination gave very similar pictures, reproducing the experimental behavior. The satisfactory agreement obtained with a great variety of experimental data (always qualitatively acceptable and sometimes even quantitatively) of the present QCT study lends confidence to the potential energy surface constructed by our group.

Potential energy surface, kinetics, and dynamics study of the Cl+CH4→HCl+CH3 reaction

A modified and recalibrated potential energy surface for the gas-phase Cl+CH4-->HCl+CH3 reaction is reported and tested. It is completely symmetric with respect to the permutation of the four methane hydrogen atoms and is calibrated with respect to updated experimental and theoretical stationary point properties and experimental forward thermal rate constants. From the kinetics point of view, the forward and reverse thermal rate constants and the activation energies were calculated using the variational transition-state theory with semiclassical transmission coefficients over a wide temperature range of 150-2500 K. The theoretical results reproduce the available experimental data, with a small curvature of the Arrhenius plot which indicates the role of tunneling in this hydrogen abstraction reaction. A dynamics study was also performed on this PES using quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) calculations, including corrections to avoid zero-point energy leakage along the trajectories. First, we found a noticeable internal energy in the coproduct methyl radical, both in the ground-state [CH4 (v=0)] and vibrationally excited [CH4 (v=1)] reactions. This CH3 internal energy was directly precluded in some experiments or oversimplified in previous theoretical studies using pseudotriatomic models. Second, our QCT calculations give HCl rotational distributions slightly hotter than those in experiment, but correctly describing the experimental trend of decreasing the HCl product rotation excitation in going from HCl (v'=0) to HCl (v'=1) for the CH4 (v=1) reaction. Third, the state specific scattering distributions present a reasonable agreement with experiment, although they tend to make the reaction more forward and backward scattered than found experimentally probably because of the hotter rotational distribution and the deficiencies of the QCT methods.

Quasiclassical trajectory calculations comparing the reactivity and dynamics of symmetric and asymmetric stretch and the role of the bending mode excitations of methane in the Cl+CH4 reaction

To analyze the effects of the symmetric (nu(1)) and asymmetric (nu(3)) stretch mode excitations and the role played by the "umbrella" bending (nu(4)) mode excitation in the reactivity and the dynamics of the gas-phase Cl+CH(4) reaction, an exhaustive dynamics study was performed. Quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) calculations, including corrections to avoid zero-point energy leakage along the trajectories, were used in this work on an analytical potential energy surface previously developed by Espinosa-Garcia et al. [J. Chem. Phys. (to be published)]. First, with respect to the reactivity, we found that the nu(1) mode excitation is more reactive than the nu(3) mode by a factor of 1.20, in agreement with the experimental tendency between these modes. The inclusion of the nu(4) bending mode practically does not affect this relative reactivity, (nu(1+)nu(4))(nu(3+)nu(4)) = 1.16. Second, with respect to the dynamics (rotovibrational and angular distributions of the products), the two stretch modes, nu(1) and nu(3), give very similar pictures, reproducing the experimental behavior, and the nu(4) "umbrella" mode does not affect the dynamics. The satisfactory reproduction (always qualitatively acceptable and sometimes even quantitatively) of a great variety of experimental data by the QCT study presented here lends confidence to the potential energy surface constructed by Espinosa-Garcia et al. [J. Chem. Phys. (to be published)].