Lifetimes and decay mechanisms of isotopically substituted ozone above the dissociation threshold: matching quantum and classical dynamics

Energies and lifetimes of vibrational resonances were computed for 18O-enriched isotopologue 50O3 = {16O16O18O and 16O18O16O} of the ozone molecule using hyperspherical coordinates and the method of complex absorbing potential. Various types of scattering resonances were identified, including roaming OO-O rotational states, the series corresponding to continuation of bound vibrational resonances of highly excited bending or symmetric stretching vibrational modes. Such a series become metastable above the dissociation limit. The coupling between the vibrationally excited O2 fragment and rotational roaming gives rise to Feshbach type resonances in ozone. Different paths for the formation and decay of symmetric 16O18O16O and asymmetric species 16O16O18O were also identified. The symmetry properties of the total rovibronic wave functions of the 18O-enriched isotopologues are discussed in the context of allowed dissociation channels.

Formation of ozone by solid state reactions

We studied the isotopic composition of ozone formed at low (3-10 K) temperature via O + O2 solid state reactions using a partially dissociated 16O/16O2 : 18O/18O2 = 1 : 1 mixture. The ozone ice has an isotopic abundance that differs from the statistical one and from gas phase studies. Ozone formation is influenced by the competition of the production of O2 (O + O or O + O3) vs. O3 (O + O2) and by the energy released in the O + O reaction. The exothermicity of the O + O reaction helps to overcome the barrier of the O + O2 reaction. Heating the ozone ice past 50 K brings about a transformation from amorphous to crystalline ice. The formation of ozone on water ice yields a blue shift of IR bands, and the yield of formed O3 increases up to the sample temperature of 100 K. When 18O/18O2 is deposited on H216O ice, formation of 18O18O16O is detected. We propose that the exothermicity of the reaction 18O + 18O drives water dissociation (16O + H2) followed by ozone formation (16O + 18O2 → 16O18O18O).

Ab initio study of nitrogen and position-specific oxygen kinetic isotope effects in the NO + O3 reaction

Ab initio calculations have been carried out to investigate nitrogen (k¹⁵/k¹⁴) and position-specific oxygen (k¹⁷/k¹⁶O & k¹⁸/k¹⁶) kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) for the reaction between NO and O₃ using CCSD(T)/6-31G(d) and CCSD(T)/6-311G(d) derived frequencies in the complete Bigeleisen equations. Isotopic enrichment factors are calculated to be -6.7‰, -1.3‰, -44.7‰, -14.1‰, and -0.3‰ at 298 K for the reactions involving the ¹⁵N¹⁶O, ¹⁴N¹⁸O, ¹⁸O¹⁶O¹⁶O, ¹⁶O¹⁸O¹⁶O, and ¹⁶O¹⁶O¹⁸O isotopologues relative to the 14N¹⁶O and 16O₃ isotopologues, respectively (CCSD(T)/6-311G(d)). Using our oxygen position-specific KIEs, a kinetic model was constructed using Kintecus, which estimates the overall isotopic enrichment factors associated with unreacted O₃ and the oxygen transferred to NO₂ to be -19.6‰  and -22.8‰, respectively, (CCSD(T)/6-311G(d)) which tends to be in agreement with previously reported experimental data. While this result may be fortuitous, this agreement suggests that our model is capturing the most important features of the underlying physics of the KIE associated with this reaction (i.e., shifts in zero-point energies). The calculated KIEs will useful in future NO_x isotopic modeling studies aimed at understanding the processes responsible for the observed tropospheric isotopic variations of NO_x as well as for tropospheric nitrate.

Anomalous oxygen isotope enrichment in CO2 produced from O+CO: estimates based on experimental results and model predictions

The oxygen isotope fractionation associated with O+CO-->CO(2) reaction was investigated experimentally where the oxygen atom was derived from ozone or oxygen photolysis. The isotopic composition of the product CO(2) was analyzed by mass spectrometry. A kinetic model was used to calculate the expected CO(2) composition based on available reaction rates and their modifications for isotopic variants of the participating molecules. A comparison of the two (experimental data and model predictions) shows that the product CO(2) is endowed with an anomalous enrichment of heavy oxygen isotopes. The enrichment is similar to that observed earlier in case of O(3) produced by O+O(2) reaction and varies from 70 0/00 to 136 0/00 for (18)O and 41 0/00 to 83 0/00 for (17)O. Cross plot of delta (17)O and delta (18)O of CO(2) shows a linear relation with slope of approximately 0.90 for different experimental configurations. The enrichment observed in CO(2) does not depend on the isotopic composition of the O atom or the sources from which it is produced. A plot of Delta(delta (17)O) versus Delta(delta (18)O) (two enrichments) shows linear correlation with the best fit line having a slope of approximately 0.8. As in case of ozone, this anomalous enrichment can be explained by invoking the concept of differential randomization/stabilization time scale for two types of intermediate transition complex which forms symmetric ((16)O(12)C(16)O) molecule in one case and asymmetric ((16)O(12)C(18)O and (16)O(12)C(17)O) molecules in the other. The delta (13)C value of CO(2) is also found to be different from that of the initial CO due to the mass dependent fractionation processes that occur in the O+CO-->CO(2) reaction. Negative values of Delta(delta (13)C) ( approximately 12.1 0/00) occur due to the preference of (12)C in CO(2)* formation and stabilization. By contrast, at lower pressures (approximately 100 torr) surface induced deactivation makes Delta(delta (13)C) zero or slightly positive.

Unambiguous identification of (17)O containing ozone isotopomers for symmetry selective detection

Symmetry selective detection of the (17)O containing ozone isotopomers (16)O(16)O(17)O and (16)O(17)O(16)O requires the unambiguous identification of absorption lines. We report high resolution tuneable diode laser spectrometer measurements of (17)O containing ozone isotopomers in the R-branch of the nu3 band and present a purely experimental technique that discriminates between (16)O(16)O(17)O and (16)O(17)O(16)O. Around 1040 cm(-1), differences in line positions of (16)O(17)O(16)O upto 4 x 10(-3) cm(-1) between our measurements and present spectroscopic database records (HITRAN 2004) are found.