Atmospheric Chemistry of CH3CHF2 (HFC-152a): Kinetics, Mechanisms, and Products of Cl Atom- and OH Radical-Initiated Oxidation in the Presence and Absence of NOx

Trichloroacetyl chloride, CCl3COCl, as an alternative Cl atom precursor for laboratory use and determination of Cl atom rate coefficients for n-CH2[double bond, length as m-dash]CH(CH2)xCN (x = 3-4)

An investigation of CCl3COCl was conducted with the purpose of using the compound as an alternative Cl atom precursor in laboratory settings. CCl3COCl can be used with or without O2 as a source of Cl atoms and photolysis studies in air and N2 diluent displayed COCl2 and CO as being the major photolysis products. Relative rate studies were performed to determine the Cl atom rate coefficients for reaction with CH3Cl and C2H2 and the results were in agreement with literature values. Cl atom rate coefficients for reaction with n-CH2[double bond, length as m-dash]CH(CH2)3CN and n-CH2[double bond, length as m-dash]CH(CH2)4CN were determined as (2.95 ± 0.58) × 10-10 and (3.73 ± 0.60) × 10-10 cm3 molecule-1 s-1, respectively. CCl3COCl requires UV-C irradiation, so not all molecules are feasible for use in e.g. relative rate studies. Furthermore, it is recommended to perform experiments with O2 present, as this minimizes IR feature disturbance from product formation.

Experimental and Theoretical Study on the OH-Reaction Kinetics and Photochemistry of Acetyl Fluoride (CH3C(O)F), an Atmospheric Degradation Intermediate of HFC-161 (C2H5F)

The direct reaction kinetic method of low pressure fast discharge flow (DF) with resonance fluorescence monitoring of OH (RF) has been applied to determine rate coefficients for the overall reactions OH + C2H5F (EtF) (1) and OH + CH3C(O)F (AcF) (2). Acetyl fluoride reacts slowly with the hydroxyl radical, the rate coefficient at laboratory temperature is k2(300 K) = (0.74 ± 0.05) × 10(-14) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) (given with 2σ statistical uncertainty). The temperature dependence of the reaction does not obey the Arrhenius law and it is described well by the two-exponential rate expression of k2(300-410 K) = 3.60 × 10(-3) exp(-10500/T) + 1.56 × 10(-13) exp(-910/T) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1). The rate coefficient of k1 = (1.90 ± 0.19) × 10(-13) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1) has been determined for the EtF-reaction at room temperature (T = 298 K). Microscopic mechanisms for the OH + CH3C(O)F reaction have also been studied theoretically using the ab initio CBS-QB3 and G4 methods. Variational transition state theory was employed to obtain rate coefficients for the OH + CH3C(O)F reaction as a function of temperature on the basis of the ab initio data. The calculated rate coefficients are in good agreement with the experimental data. It is revealed that the reaction takes place predominantly via the indirect H-abstraction mechanism involving H-bonded prereactive complexes and forming the nascent products of H2O and the CH2CFO radical. The non-Arrhenius behavior of the rate coefficient at temperatures below 500 K is ascribed to the significant tunneling effect of the in-the-plane H-abstraction dynamic bottleneck. The production of FC(O)OH + CH3 via the addition/elimination mechanism is hardly competitive due to the significant barriers along the reaction routes. Photochemical experiments of AcF were performed at 248 nm by using exciplex lasers. The total photodissociation quantum yield for CH3C(O)F has been found significantly less than unity; among the primary photochemical processes, C-C bond cleavage is by far dominating compared with CO-elimination. The absorption spectrum of AcF has also been determined by displaying a strong blue shift compared with the spectra of aliphatic carbonyls. Consequences of the results on atmospheric chemistry have been discussed.

Theoretical study of a reaction mechanism of tropospheric interest: CH3CH2F + OH

Dual-level electronic structure calculation has been performed to investigate the mechanism and all possible channels of OH radical reaction with CH3CH2F. Geometries and frequencies are computed at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level of theory for all stationary points and complexes and transition states are located. Potential energy surfaces are constructed at the PMP2/cc-pVTZ//B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level + ZPE correction. Four types of reaction channels are identified: hydrogen abstraction, fluorine abstraction and attack on carbon atom along or perpendicular to the C–C bond axis. Hydrogen abstraction channels have lower barriers and are more exothermic, while out-of-plane β–H abstraction with the lowest barrier is competitive with a–H abstraction. Due to the high energy barrier, contributions of non-H abstraction channels are excluded. The influence of hydrogen bonding interaction is clearly observed in the barrier heights.

Direct Ab initio dynamics study on the reaction of CH3CHF2 (HFC-152a) with the Cl atom

A direct ab initio dynamics method is used to investigate the hydrogen-abstraction reaction CH(3)CHF(2)+Cl. One transition state is located for alpha-H abstraction, and two are identified for beta-H abstraction. The potential-energy surface (PES) is obtained at the G3(MP2)//MP2/6-311G(d, p) level. Furthermore, the rate constants of the three channels are evaluated by using canonical variational transition-state theory (CVT) with small-curvature tunneling (SCT) contributions over a wide temperature range of 200-2500 K. The dynamic calculations show that the reaction proceeds mainly by alpha-H abstraction over the whole temperature range. The calculated rate constants and branching ratios are both in good agreement with the available experimental values.