Channel-specific angular distributions of HCl and CH3 products from the reaction of atomic chlorine with stretch-excited methane

An accurate potential energy surface and ring polymer molecular dynamics study of the Cl + CH4→ HCl + CH3reaction

Thermal rate coefficients for the Cl + CH₄/CD₄reactions were studied on a new full-dimensional accurate potential energy surface with the spin–orbit corrections considered in the entrance channel.

Natural reaction channels in H + CHD3 → H2 + CD3

Natural reaction channels control the mode-specific chemistry of methane and its isotopomeres.

Angular Scattering Dynamics of the CH4 + Cl → CH3 + HCl Reaction Using Nearside-Farside, Local Angular Momentum, and Resummation Theories

The differential cross section (DCS) for the CH4 + Cl → CH3 + HCl reaction is studied at six total energies where all of the species are in their ground states. The scattering (S) matrix elements have been calculated by the rotating line umbrella method for a dual-level ab initio analytic potential energy surface. We make the first application to this reaction of nearside-farside (NF) and local angular momentum (LAM) techniques, including resummation orders (r) of 0, 1, 2, and 3 for the partial-wave series representation of the full scattering amplitude. We find that resummation usually cleans the NF r = 0 DCSs of unphysical oscillations, especially at small angles. This cleaning effect is typically most pronounced when changing from no resummation (r = 0) to r = 1; further resummations from r = 1 to r = 2 and from r = 2 to r = 3 have smaller effects. The NF DCS analyses show that the reaction is N-dominated at sideward and large angles, whereas at small angles there are oscillations caused by NF interference. The NF LAM analysis provides consistent and complementary information, in particular for the total angular momenta that contribute to the reaction at different scattering angles. The NF analyses also provide justification for simpler N-dominant dynamical theories such as the semiclassical optical model, which provides an explanation for the distorted mirror image effect for the moduli of the S matrix elements and the DCSs, as well as the use of a hard-sphere DCS over limited angular ranges.

Loss of Memory in H + CH4 → H2 + CH3 State-to-State Reactive Scattering

State-to-state reaction probabilities for the H + CH4→ H2 + CH3 reaction are calculated by accurate full-dimensional quantum dynamics calculations employing the multilayer multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree approach and the quantum transition-state concept. Reactions starting from different vibrational and rotational states of the methane reactant are investigated for vanishing total angular momentum. The vibrational state distributions of the products are found to be essentially independent of the initial rovibrational state of the reactants. The reaction products only show vibrational excitation in the methyl umbrella mode. No excitation in H2 vibration or another CH3 vibration is observed. Analyzing the results, the observed loss of vibrational memory can be explained by a transition-state-based view of the reaction process.

STEREODYNAMICS STUDY OF THE REACTION Cl(2p3/2) + C2D6 (v = 0, j = 0) → DCl + C2D5

The product angular momentum polarization of the Cl + C2D6 → DCl + C2D5 reaction is calculated via the quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method at the collision energy of 0.25 eV. A new London–Eyring–Polanyi–Sato (LEPS) potential energy surface (PES) is used in this reaction. There is a "late" barrier and a "deep" well on this new LEPS PES. The four polarization-dependent "generalized" differential cross sections (PDDCSs) are presented in the center-of-mass frame. In the meantime, the distributions of P(ϕr), P(θr), and P(θr, ϕr) are calculated. The calculations are in good agreement with the experimental data. In addition, the rotational alignment factors [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] in the stationary-target frame (STF) are also calculated.

Reaction of Cl with CD4 excited to the second C-D stretching overtone

The effects of vibrational excitation on the Cl+CD(4) reaction are investigated by preparing three nearly isoenergetic vibrational states: mid R:3000 at 6279.66 cm(-1), |2100> at 6534.20 cm(-1), and |1110> at 6764.24 cm(-1), where |D(1)D(2)D(3)D(4)> identifies the number of vibrational quanta in each C-D oscillator. Vibrational excitation of the perdeuteromethane is via direct infrared pumping. The reaction is initiated by photolysis of molecular chlorine at 355 nm. The nascent methyl radical product distribution is measured by 2+1 resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization at 330 nm. The resulting CD(3) state distributions reveal a preference to remove all energy available in the most excited C-D oscillator. Although the energetics are nearly identical, the authors observe strong mode specificity in which the CD(3) state distributions markedly differ between the three Cl-atom reactions. Reaction with CD(4) prepared in the |3000> mode leads to CD(3) products populated primarily in the ground state, reaction with CD(4) prepared in the |2100> mode leads primarily to CD(3) with one quantum of stretch excitation, and reaction with CD(4) prepared in the |1110> mode leads primarily to CD(3) with one quantum of C-D stretch excitation in two oscillators. There are some minor deviations from this behavior, most notably that the Cl atom is able to abstract more energy than is available in a single C-D oscillator, as in the case of |2100>, wherein a small population of ground-state CD(3) is observed. These exceptions likely result from the mixings between different second overtone stretch combination bands. They also measure isotropic and anisotropic time-of-flight profiles of CD(3) (nu(1)=1,2) products from the Cl+CD(4) |2100> reaction, providing speed distributions, spatial anisotropies, and differential cross sections that indicate that energy introduced as vibrational energy into the system essentially remains as such throughout the course of the reaction.

Disentangling mode-specific reaction dynamics from overlapped images

The hydrogen abstraction reaction between atomic chlorine and C-H stretch-excited CHD(3) was studied under crossed-beam conditions. Prior to collisions, an infrared (IR) laser was used to pump up a fraction of CHD(3) to nu(1) = 1. A time-sliced velocity imaging technique was exploited to image the recoil velocity distribution of the state-selected product CD(3)(nu = 0). For energetic reasons, the IR-on image shows severely overlapped features arising from both the excited and the un-pumped ground-state reagents. A novel threshold method was then developed to directly determine the fraction of IR-excited CHD(3) reagents, which in turn enables us to disentangle the state-selected dynamics from the overlapped images. The results reveal significant differences from previous experimental reports.

Rotationally resolved reactive scattering: Imaging detailed Cl+C2H6 reaction dynamics

The hydrogen atom abstraction reaction of Cl (2P3/2) with ethane has been studied using the crossed molecular beam technique with dc slice imaging at collision energies from 3.2 to 10.4 kcal/mol. The products HCl (v,J) (v = 0, J = 0-5) were state-selectively detected using 2+1 resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization. The images were used to obtain the center-of-mass frame product angular distributions and translational energy release distributions. Two general features were found in all probed HCl quantum states at 6.7 kcal/mol collision energy, and these features have distinct translational energy release and angular distributions, as described for HCl (v = 0, J = 2) in a recent preliminary report [Li et al., J. Chem. Phys. 124, 011102 (2006)]. The results for HCl (v = 0, J = 2) at four collision energies were also compared to investigate the energy-dependent dynamics. We discuss the reaction in terms of a variety of models of polyatomic reaction dynamics. The dynamics of this well studied system are more complicated than can be accounted for by a single mechanism, and the results call for further theoretical and experimental investigations.

State-to-state reaction dynamics: A selective review

A selective review of state-to-state reaction dynamics experiments is presented. The review focuses on three classes of reactions that exemplify the rich history and illustrate the current state of the art in such work. These three reactions are (1) the hydrogen exchange reaction, H+H2-->H2+H and its isotopomers; (2) the H+RH-->H2+R reactions, where RH is an alkane, beginning with H+CH4-->H2+CH3 and extending to much larger alkanes; and (3) the Cl+RH-->HCl+R reactions, principally Cl+CH4-->HCl+CH3. We describe the experiments, discuss their results, present comparisons with theory, and introduce heuristic models.

Recent advances in crossed-beam studies of bimolecular reactions

A critical overview of the recent progress in crossed-beam reactive scattering is presented. This review is not intended to be an exhaustive nor a comprehensive one, but rather a critical assessment of what we have been learning about bimolecular reaction dynamics using crossed molecular beams since year 2000. Particular emphasis is placed on the information content encoded in the product angular distribution-the trait of a typical molecular beam scattering experiment-and how the information can help in answering fundamental questions about chemical reactivity. We will start with simple reactions by highlighting a few benchmark three-atom reactions, and then move on progressively to the more complex chemical systems and with more sophisticated types of measurements. Understanding what cause the experimental observations is more than computationally simulating the results. The give and take between experiment and theory in unraveling the physical picture of the underlying dynamics is illustrated throughout this review.

Mode- and bond-selective reaction of Cl(P3∕22) with CH3D: C–H stretch overtone excitation near 6000cm−1

Experiments explore the influence of different C-H stretching eigenstates of CH3D on the reaction of CH3D with Cl(2P3/2). We prepare the mid |110>|0>(A1,E), mid |200>|>0(E), and mid |100>|0> +nu3 +nu5 eigenstates by direct midinfrared absorption near 6000 cm(-1). The vibrationally excited molecules react with photolytic Cl atoms, and we monitor the vibrational states of the CH2D or CH3 radical products by 2+1 resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization. Initial excitation of the |200>|0>(E) state leads to a twofold increase in CH2D products in the vibrational ground state compared to|100>|0> +nu3 +nu5 excitation, indicating mode-selective chemistry in which the C-H stretch motion couples more effectively to the H-atom abstraction coordinate than bend motion. For two eigenstates that differ only in the symmetry of the vibrational wave function, |110>|0>(A1) and |110>|0>(E), the ratio of reaction cross sections is 1.00 +/- 0.05, showing that there is no difference in enhancement of the H-atom abstraction reaction. Molecules with excited local modes corresponding to one quantum of C-H stretch in each of two distinct oscillators react exclusively to form C-H stretch excited CH2D products. Conversely, eigenstates containing stretch excitation in a single C-H oscillator form predominantly ground vibrational state CH2D products. Analyzing the product state yields for reaction of the |110>|0>(A1) state of CH3D yields an enhancement of 20 +/- 4 over the thermal reaction. A local mode description of the vibrational motion along with a spectator model for the reactivity accounts for all of the observed dynamics.

Quasiclassical trajectory study of the Cl+CH4 reaction dynamics on a quadratic configuration interaction with single and double excitation interpolated potential energy surface

An ab initio interpolated potential energy surface (PES) for the Cl+CH(4) reactive system has been constructed using the interpolation method of Collins and co-workers [J. Chem. Phys. 102, 5647 (1995); 108, 8302 (1998); 111, 816 (1999); Theor. Chem. Acc. 108, 313 (2002)]. The ab initio calculations have been performed using quadratic configuration interaction with single and double excitation theory to build the PES. A simple scaling all correlation technique has been used to obtain a PES which yields a barrier height and reaction energy in good agreement with high level ab initio calculations and experimental measurements. Using these interpolated PESs, a detailed quasiclassical trajectory study of integral and differential cross sections, product rovibrational populations, and internal energy distributions has been carried out for the Cl+CH(4) and Cl+CD(4) reactions, and the theoretical results have been compared with the available experimental data. It has been shown that the calculated total reaction cross sections versus collision energy for the Cl+CH(4) and Cl+CD(4) reactions is very sensitive to the barrier height. Besides, due to the zero-point energy (ZPE) leakage of the CH(4) molecule to the reaction coordinate in the quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) calculations, the reaction threshold falls below the barrier height of the PES. The ZPE leakage leads to CH(3) and HCl coproducts with internal energy below its corresponding ZPEs. We have shown that a Gaussian binning (GB) analysis of the trajectories yields excitation functions in somehow better agreement with the experimental determinations. The HCl(v'=0) and DCl(v'=0) rotational distributions are as well very sensitive to the ZPE problem. The GB correction narrows and shifts the rotational distributions to lower values of the rotational quantum numbers. However, the present QCT rotational distributions are still hotter than the experimental distributions. In both reactions the angular distributions shift from backward peaked to sideways peaked as collision energy increases, as seen in the experiments and other theoretical calculations.

Ab initio and direct quasiclassical-trajectory study of the Cl+CH4→HCl+CH3 reaction

We present an electronic structure and dynamics study of the Cl + CH(4)--> HCl + CH(3) reaction. We have characterized the stationary points of the ground-state potential-energy surface using various electronic structure methods and basis sets. Our best calculations, CCSD(T) extrapolated to the complete basis-set limit based on geometries and harmonic frequencies obtained at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pvtz level, are in agreement with the experimental reaction energy and indirect measurements of the barrier height. Using ab initio information, we have reparametrized a semiempirical Hamiltonian so that the predictions of the improved Hamiltonian agree with the higher-level calculations in various regions of the potential-energy surface. This improved semiempirical Hamiltonian is then used to propagate quasiclassical trajectories and characterize the reaction dynamics. The good agreement of the calculated HCl rotational and angular distributions with the experiment indicates that reparametrizing semiempirical Hamiltonians is a promising approach to derive accurate potential-energy surfaces for polyatomic reactions. However, excessive energy leakage from the initial vibrational energy of the CH(4) molecule to the reaction coordinate in the trajectory calculations calls into question the suitability of the standard quasiclassical-trajectory method to describe energy partitioning in polyatomic reactions.

Comparing reactions of H and Cl with C–H stretch-excited CHD3

We report the methyl radical product state distributions for the reactions of H and Cl with CHD3(nu1 = 1,2) at collision energies of 1.53 and 0.18 eV, respectively. Both reactions demonstrate mode selectivity. The resulting state distributions from the H+CHD3(nu1 = 1,2) reactions are well described by a spectator model. The reactions Cl + CHD3(nu1 = 1,2) exhibit similar behavior, but in some aspects the spectator model breaks down. We attribute this breakdown to enhanced intramolecular vibrational redistribution in the Cl + CHD3(nu1 = 1,2) reactions compared to the H + CHD3(nu1 = 1,2) reactions, caused by the interaction of the slower Cl atom with the vibrationally excited CHD3, which is promoted either by its longer collision duration, its stronger coupling, or both.

H + CD4 Abstraction Reaction Dynamics: Excitation Function and Angular Distributions

We compare experimental photoloc measurements and quasi-classical trajectory calculations of the integral cross sections, lab-frame speed distributions, and angular distributions associated with the CD3 products of the H + CD4(nu = 0) --> CD3 + HD reaction at collision energies ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 eV. Of the potential energy surfaces (PES) we explored, the direct dynamics calculations using the B3LYP/6-31G** density functional theory PES provide the best agreement with the experimental measurements. This agreement is likely due to the better overall description that B3LYP provides for geometries well removed from the minimum energy path, even though its barrier height is low by approximately 0.2 eV. In contrast to previous theoretical calculations, the angular distributions on this surface show behavior associated with a stripping mechanism, even at collision energies only approximately 0.1 eV above the reaction barrier. Other potential energy surfaces, which include an analytical potential energy surface from Espinosa-García and a direct dynamics calculation based on the MSINDO semiempirical Hamiltonian, are less accurate and predict more rebound dynamics at these energies than is observed. Reparametrization of the MSINDO surface, though yielding better agreement with the experiment, is not sufficient to capture the observed dynamics. The differences between these surfaces are interpreted using an analysis of the opacity functions, where we find that the wider cone of acceptance on the B3LYP surface plays a crucial role in determining the integral cross sections and angular distributions.

Effects of C–H stretch excitation on the H+CH4 reaction

We have investigated the effects of C-H stretching excitation on the H+CH4-->CH3+H2 reaction dynamics using the photo-LOC technique. The CH3 product vibrational state and angular distribution are measured for the reaction of fast H atoms with methane excited in either the antisymmetric stretching fundamental (nu3=1) or first overtone (nu3=2) with a center-of-mass collision energy of Ecoll ranging from 1.52 to 2.20 eV. We find that vibrational excitation of the nu3=1 mode enhances the overall reaction cross section by a factor of 3.0+/-1.5 for Ecoll=1.52 eV, and this enhancement factor is approximately constant over the 1.52-2.20-eV collision energy range. A local-mode description of the CH4 stretching vibration, in which the C-H oscillators are uncoupled, is used to describe the observed state distributions. In this model, the interaction of the incident H atom with either a stretched or an unstretched C-H oscillator determines the vibrational state of the CH3 product. We also compare these results to the similar quantities obtained previously for the Cl+CH4-->CH3+HCl reaction at Ecoll=0.16 eV [Z. H. Kim, H. A. Bechtel, and R. N. Zare, J. Chem. Phys. 117, 3232 (2002); H. A. Bechtel, J. P. Camden, D. J. A. Brown, and R. N. Zare, ibid. 120, 5096 (2004)] in an attempt to elucidate the differences in reactivity for the same initially prepared vibration.

Imaging photon-initiated reactions: A study of the Cl(P3∕22)+CH4→HCl+CH3 reaction

The hydrogen or deuterium atom abstraction reactions between Cl((2)P(3/2)) and methane, or its deuterated analogues CD(4) and CH(2)D(2), have been studied at mean collision energies around 0.34 eV. The experiments were performed in a coexpansion of molecular chlorine and methane in helium, with the atomic Cl reactants generated by polarized laser photodissociation of Cl(2) at 308 nm. The Cl-atom reactants and the methyl radical products were detected using (2+1) resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization, coupled with velocity-map ion imaging. Analysis of the ion images reveals that in single-beam experiments of this type, careful consideration must be given to the spread of reagent velocities and collision energies. Using the reactions of Cl with CH(4), CD(4), and CH(2)D(2), as examples, it is shown that the data can be fitted well if the reagent motion is correctly described, and the angular scattering distributions can be obtained with confidence. New evidence is also provided that the CD(3) radicals from the Cl+CD(4) reaction possess significant rotational alignment under the conditions of the present study. The results are compared with previous experimental and theoretical works, where these are available.

Imaging the “missing” bands in the resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization detection of methyl radical

Three small features were uncovered in the (2+1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization spectra of CD(3) produced from a crossed-beam reaction of F+CHD(3) near reaction threshold. Taking the velocity mapped images of these features revealed several well-resolved ringlike structures. By conservation of energy, these spectral features were unambiguously assigned to the "missing" bands of 1(1) (1), 3(1) (1), and 4(1) (1) in the literature. These assignments enable all four modes of excitation of this important radical being detected, which could have significant impact on future dynamics studies of the mode specificity of methyl radical.

Vibrationally Controlled Chemistry: Mode- and Bond-Selected Reaction of CH3D with Cl

Selective vibrational excitation controls the competition between C-H and C-D bond cleavage in the reaction of CH(3)D with Cl, which forms either HCl + CH(2)D or DCl + CH(3). The reaction of CH(3)D molecules with the first overtone of the C-D stretch (2nu(2)) excited selectively breaks the C-D bond, producing CH(3) exclusively. In contrast, excitation of either the symmetric C-H stretch (nu(1)), the antisymmetric C-H stretch (nu(4)), or a combination of antisymmetric stretch and CH(3) umbrella bend (nu(4) + nu(3)) causes the reaction to cleave only a C-H bond to produce solely CH(2)D. Initial preparation of C-H stretching vibrations with different couplings to the reaction coordinate changes the rate of the H-atom abstraction reaction. Excitation of the symmetric C-H stretch (nu(1)) of CH(3)D accelerates the H-atom abstraction reaction 7 times more than excitation of the antisymmetric C-H stretch (nu(4)) even though the two lie within 80 cm(-1) of the same energy. Ab initio calculations and a simple theoretical model help identify the dynamics behind the observed mode selectivity.

Effect of bending and torsional mode excitation on the reaction Cl+CH4→HCl+CH3

A beam containing CH(4), Cl(2), and He is expanded into a vacuum chamber where CH(4) is prepared via infrared excitation in a combination band consisting of one quantum of excitation each in the bending and torsional modes (nu(2)+nu(4)). The reaction is initiated by fast Cl atoms generated by photolysis of Cl(2) at 355 nm, and the resulting CH(3) and HCl products are detected in a state-specific manner using resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI). By comparing the relative amplitudes of the action spectra of Cl+CH(4)(nu(2)+nu(4)) and Cl+CH(4)(nu(3)) reactions, we determine that the nu(2)+nu(4) mode-driven reaction is at least 15% as reactive as the nu(3) (antisymmetric stretch) mode-driven reaction. The REMPI spectrum of the CH(3) products shows no propensity toward the formation of umbrella bend mode excited methyl radical, CH(3)(nu(2)=1), which is in sharp distinction to the theoretical expectation based on adiabatic correlations between CH(4) and CH(3). The rotational distribution of HCl(v=1) products from the Cl+CH(4)(nu(2)+nu(4)) reaction is hotter than the corresponding distribution from the Cl+CH(4)(nu(3)) reaction, even though the total energies of the two reactions are the same within 4%. An explanation for this enhanced rotational excitation of the HCl product from the Cl+CH(4)(nu(2)+nu(4)) reaction is offered in terms of the projection of the bending motion of the CH(4) reagent onto the rotational motion of the HCl product. The angular distributions of the HCl(nu=0) products from the Cl+CH(4)(nu(2)+nu(4)) reaction are backward scattered, which is in qualitative agreement with theoretical calculation. Overall, nonadiabatic product vibrational correlation and mode specificity of the reaction indicate that either the bending mode or the torsional mode or both modes are strongly coupled to the reaction coordinate.

Microcanonical unimolecular rate theory at surfaces. II. Vibrational state resolved dissociative chemisorption of methane on Ni(100)

A three-parameter microcanonical theory of gas-surface reactivity is used to investigate the dissociative chemisorption of methane impinging on a Ni(100) surface. Assuming an apparent threshold energy for dissociative chemisorption of E(0)=65 kJ/mol, contributions to the dissociative sticking coefficient from individual methane vibrational states are calculated: (i) as a function of molecular translational energy to model nonequilibrium molecular beam experiments and (ii) as a function of temperature to model thermal equilibrium mbar pressure bulb experiments. Under fairly typical molecular beam conditions (e.g., E(t)>/=25 kJ mol(-1), T(s)>/=475 K, T(n)</=400 K), sticking from methane in the ground vibrational state dominates the overall sticking. In contrast, under thermal equilibrium conditions at temperatures T>/=100 K the dissociative sticking is dominated by methane in vibrationally excited states, particularly those involving excitation of the nu(4) bending mode. Fractional energy uptakes f(j) defined as the fraction of the mean energy of the reacting gas-surface collision complexes that derives from specific degrees of freedom of the reactants (i.e., molecular translation, rotation, vibration, and surface) are calculated for thermal dissociative chemisorption. At 500 K, the fractional energy uptakes are calculated to be f(t)=14%, f(r)=21%, f(v)=40%, and f(s)=25%. Over the temperature range from 500 K to 1500 K relevant to thermal catalysis, the incident gas-phase molecules supply the preponderance of energy used to surmount the barrier to dissociative chemisorption, f(g)=f(t)+f(r)+f(v) approximately 75%, with the highest energy uptake always coming from the molecular vibrational degrees of freedom. The predictions of the statistical, mode-nonspecific microcanonical theory are compared to those of other dynamical theories and to recent experimental data.