A neural network potential energy surface for the NaH2 system and dynamics studies on the H(2S) + NaH(X1Σ+) → Na(2S) + H2(X1Σg+) reaction

Current Status of the X + C2H6 [X ≡ H, F(2P), Cl(2P), O(3P), OH] Hydrogen Abstraction Reactions: A Theoretical Review

This paper is a detailed review of the chemistry of medium-size reactive systems using the following hydrogen abstraction reactions with ethane, X + C₂H₆ → HX + C₂H₅; X ≡ H, F(²P), Cl(²P), O(³P) and OH, and focusing attention mainly on the theoretical developments. These bimolecular reactions range from exothermic to endothermic systems and from barrierless to high classical barriers of activation. Thus, the topography of the reactive systems changes from reaction to reaction with the presence or not of stabilized intermediate complexes in the entrance and exit channels. The review begins with some reflections on the inherent problems in the theory/experiment comparison. When one compares kinetics or dynamics theoretical results with experimental measures, one is testing both the potential energy surface describing the nuclei motion and the kinetics or dynamics method used. Discrepancies in the comparison may be due to inaccuracies of the surface, limitations of the kinetics or dynamics methods, and experimental uncertainties that also cannot be ruled out. The paper continues with a detailed review of some bimolecular reactions with ethane, beginning with the reactions with hydrogen atoms. The reactions with halogens present a challenge owing to the presence of stabilized intermediate complexes in the entrance and exit channels and the influence of the spin-orbit states on reactivity. Reactions with O(³P) atoms lead to three surfaces, which is an additional difficulty in the theoretical study. Finally, the reactions with the hydroxyl radical correspond to a reactive system with ten atoms and twenty-four degrees of freedom. Throughout this review, different strategies in the development of analytical potential energy surfaces describing these bimolecular reactions have been critically analyzed, showing their advantages and limitations. These surfaces are fitted to a large number of ab initio calculations, and we found that a huge number of calculations leads to accurate surfaces, but this information does not guarantee that the kinetics and dynamics results match the experimental measurements.

Wave Packet Approach to Adiabatic and Nonadiabatic Dynamics of Cold Inelastic Scatterings

Due to the extremely large de Broglie wavelength of cold molecules, cold inelastic scattering is always characterized by the time-independent close-coupling (TICC) method. However, the TICC method is difficult to apply to collisions of large molecular systems. Here, we present a new strategy for characterizing cold inelastic scattering using wave packet (WP) method. In order to deal with the long de Broglie wavelength of cold molecules, the total wave function is divided into interaction, asymptotic and long-range regions (IALR). The three regions use different numbers of ro-vibrational basis functions, especially the long-range region, which uses only one function corresponding to the initial ro-vibrational state. Thus, a very large grid range can be used to characterize long de Broglie wavelengths in scattering coordinates. Due to its better numerical scaling law, the IALR-WP method has great potential in studying the inelastic scatterings of larger collision systems at cold and ultracold regimes.

Stereodynamics-Controlled Product Branching in the Nonadiabatic H + NaD → Na(3s, 3p) + HD Reaction at Low Temperatures

Nonadiabatic processes play an important role at energies near or higher than conical intersection of adiabatic potential energy surfaces in chemical reactions. In this work, dynamics of the nonadiabatic H + NaD reaction at low temperatures are studied by using the quantum wave packet method based on an improved L-shaped grid. The nonadiabatic H + NaD reaction has two exothermic reaction channels: Na(3s) + HD and Na(3p) + HD; the latter can only occur via nonadiabatic transition. The dynamics results show that the product branching of the H + NaD reaction at collision energies ranging from 20 to 80 cm^-1 is controlled by stereodynamics. The Na(3s) and Na(3p) reaction channels occur through collinear collision and side-on collision, respectively. When the collision energy is lower than 20 cm^-1, the resonance-mediated reaction mechanism is dominant in both the Na(3s) and Na(3p) reaction channels.

Quantum dynamics studies of isotope effects in the Mg+(3p) + HD → MgH+/MgD+ + D/H insertion reaction

The time-dependent wave packet quantum dynamics studies for the Mg+(3p) + HD → MgH+/MgD+ + D/H diabatic reaction are carried out for the first time on recently developed diabatic YHWCH potential energy surfaces [Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 6638-6647]. The results of reaction probabilities and total integral cross sections show a dramatic preference to the formation of MgD+ over MgH+ owing to the insertion reaction mechanism in the title reaction. The MgD+/MgH+ branching ratio witnesses a monotonic decrease from 10.58 to 3.88 at collision energy range of 0.01 to 0.20  eV, and at the collision energy of 0.114  eV, it is close to the experimental value of 5. The rovibrational state-resolved ICSs of the two channels show the products MgD+ have higher vibrational excitation and hotter rotational state distributions. The opacity function P(J) suggests that the MgH+ + D channel and MgD+ + H channel are dominated by high-b and low-b collisions, respectively. Both forward and backward scattering peaks are found in the differential cross section curves, whereas the angle distributions of products are not strictly forward-backward symmetric because of the short lifetime of the complex in the reaction.

Neural network potential energy surface and dynamical isotope effects for the N+(3P) + H2 → NH+ + H reaction

Dynamical isotope effects are calculated for the N⁺(³P) + H₂ → NH⁺ + H reaction on a new neural network potential energy surface.

New diabatic potential energy surfaces of the NaH2 system and dynamics studies for the Na(3p) + H2 → NaH + H reaction

The Na(3p) + H2(X1Σg+) → NaH(X1Σ+) + H(2S) reaction plays an important role in the field of diabatic reaction dynamics. A set of new diabatic potential energy surfaces (PESs) of the NaH2 system are structured, which include the diabatic coupling between the lowest two adiabatic states. The electronic structure calculations are performed on the multi-reference configuration interaction level with the cc-pwCVQZ and aug-cc-PVQZ basis sets for Na and H atoms. 32402 geometries are chosen to construct the diabatic data by a unitary transformation based on the molecular property method. The diabatic matrix elements of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) are fitted by the artificial neural network model. The spectroscopic constants of diatoms obtained from the present PESs are consistent with the experimental data. The topographical and intersection characteristics of the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] surfaces are discussed. Based on the new PESs, the time-dependent quantum wave packet calculations are carried out to study the reaction mechanism of the title reaction in detail.

Significant effects of vibrational excitation of reactant in K + H2 → H + KH reaction based on a new neural network potential energy surface

The study of K + H2 collision has a long experimental history, but there have been few theoretical studies due to lack of a global potential energy surface (PES). In this study, a new global PES for the ground state of KH2 system was constructed based on numerous ab initio points, using the permutation invariant polynomial neural network method. The root mean square error (RMSE) of PES is very small (5.64 meV). On the new PES, time-dependent quantum wave packet (TDWP) and quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) calculations were carried out to study the dynamics of the K(2S) + H2(X1Σ+g) → H(2S) + KH(X1Σ+) reaction. Dynamics results show that (i) the K + H2(v = 0) → H + KH reaction scarcely occurred, (ii) the K + H2(v = 1) → H + KH reaction took place in small quantities, and (iii) the K + H2(v = 2) → H + KH reaction occurred in large quantities. This indicates that vibrational energy of the reactant is significantly more effective at promoting the reaction than the translational energy. This characteristic stems from a major physical model in reactive collisions: the vibrationally excited H2 molecule and K atom collide first in a T-geometric configuration and the vibrational motion of the H2 molecule helps separate the two H atoms a large distance after the collision. At a large H-H distance, a broad well exists on the PES, so the heavy K atom could pull back the light H atom to initiate the reaction. Similar to the reactive channel, vibrational excitation of the reactant also has a significant effect on the collision-induced dissociation channel.

Global diabatic potential energy surfaces for the BeH2 + system and dynamics studies on the Be+(2P) + H2(X1Σg +) → BeH+(X1Σ+) + H(2S) reaction

The Be+(2P) + H2(X1Σg +) → BeH+(X1Σ+) + H(2S) reaction has great significance for studying diabatic processes and ultracold chemistry. The first global diabatic potential energy surfaces (PESs) which are correlated with the lowest two adiabatic states 12A' and 22A' of the BeH2 + system are constructed by using the neural network method. Ab initio energy points are calculated using the multi-reference configuration interaction method with the Davidson correction and AVQZ basis set. The diabatic energies are obtained from the transformation of ab initio data based on the dipole moment operators. The topographical characteristics of the diabatic PESs are described in detail, and the positions of crossing between the V d 11 and V d 22 are pinpointed. On new diabatic PESs, the time-dependent quantum wave packet method is carried out to study the mechanism of the title reaction. The results of dynamics calculations indicate the reaction has no threshold and the product BeH+ is excited to high vibrational states easily. In addition, the product BeH+ tends to backward scattering at most collision energies.

Diabatic potential energy surfaces of MgH2+ and dynamic studies for the Mg+(3p) + H2 → MgH+ + H reaction

The global diabatic potential energy surfaces for the Mg⁺(3p) + H₂ → MgH⁺ + H reaction are structured for the first time.