Theoretical kinetic study of the formic acid catalyzed Criegee intermediate isomerization: multistructural anharmonicity and atmospheric implications

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Abstract

We performed a theoretical study on the double hydrogen shift isomerization reaction of a six carbon atom Criegee intermediate (C6-CI), catalyzed by formic acid (HCOOH), to produce vinylhydroperoxide (VHP), C6-CI + HCOOH → VHP + HCOOH. This Criegee intermediate can serve as a surrogate for larger CIs derived from important volatile organic compounds like monoterpenes, whose reactivity is not well understood and which are difficult to handle computationally. The reactant HCOOH exerts a pronounced catalytic effect on the studied reaction by lowering the barrier height, but the kinetic enhancement is hindered by the multistructural anharmonicity. First, the rigid ring-structure adopted by the saddle point to facilitate simultaneous transfer of two atoms does not allow the formation of as many conformers as those formed by the reactant C6-CI. And second, the flexible carbon chain of C6-CI facilitates the formation of stabilizing intramolecular C–H⋯O hydrogen bonds; this stabilizing effect is less pronounced in the saddle point structure due to its tightness and steric effects. Thus, the contribution of the reactant C6-CI conformers to the multistructural partition function is larger than that of the saddle point conformers. The resulting low multistructural anharmonicity factor partially cancels out the catalytic effect of the carboxylic acid, yielding in a moderately large rate coefficient, k(298 K) = 4.9 × 10 ⁻¹³ cm ³ molecule ⁻¹ s ⁻¹. We show that carboxylic acids may promote the conversion of stabilized Criegee intermediates into vinylhydroperoxides in the atmosphere, which generates OH radicals and leads to secondary organic aerosols, thereby affecting the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere and ultimately the climate.

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Design of Density Functionals by Combining the Method of Constraint Satisfaction with Parametrization for Thermochemistry, Thermochemical Kinetics, and Noncovalent Interactions.

Yan Zhao, Nathan E Schultz, Donald G Truhlar (2006)

We present a new hybrid meta exchange-correlation functional, called M05-2X, for thermochemistry, thermochemical kinetics, and noncovalent interactions. We also provide a full discussion of the new M05 functional, previously presented in a short communication. The M05 functional was parametrized including both metals and nonmetals, whereas M05-2X is a high-nonlocality functional with double the amount of nonlocal exchange (2X) that is parametrized only for nonmetals. In particular, M05 was parametrized against 35 data values, and M05-2X is parametrized against 34 data values. Both functionals, along with 28 other functionals, have been comparatively assessed against 234 data values: the MGAE109/3 main-group atomization energy database, the IP13/3 ionization potential database, the EA13/3 electron affinity database, the HTBH38/4 database of barrier height for hydrogen-transfer reactions, five noncovalent databases, two databases involving metal-metal and metal-ligand bond energies, a dipole moment database, a database of four alkyl bond dissociation energies of alkanes and ethers, and three total energies of one-electron systems. We also tested the new functionals and 12 others for eight hydrogen-bonding and stacking interaction energies in nucleobase pairs, and we tested M05 and M05-2X and 19 other functionals for the geometry, dipole moment, and binding energy of HCN-BF3, which has recently been shown to be a very difficult case for density functional theory. We tested eight functionals for four more alkyl bond dissociation energies, and we tested 12 functionals for several additional bond energies with varying amounts of multireference character. On the basis of all the results for 256 data values in 18 databases in the present study, we recommend M05-2X, M05, PW6B95, PWB6K, and MPWB1K for general-purpose applications in thermochemistry, kinetics, and noncovalent interactions involving nonmetals and we recommend M05 for studies involving both metallic and nonmetallic elements. The M05 functional, essentially uniquely among the functionals with broad applicability to chemistry, also performs well not only for main-group thermochemistry and radical reaction barrier heights but also for transition-metal-transition-metal interactions. The M05-2X functional has the best performance for thermochemical kinetics, noncovalent interactions (especially weak interaction, hydrogen bonding, π···π stacking, and interactions energies of nucleobases), and alkyl bond dissociation energies and the best composite results for energetics, excluding metals.