Ab Initio Study of Hydrogen Migration in 1-Alkylperoxy Radicals

Unraveling the Autoxidation Mechanisms of Limonene, α-Pinene, and β-Pinene: A Computational Study with Reactivity Prediction Models

The hydrogen shift reactions of peroxy radicals derived from the ȮH-initiated oxidation of three atmospherically important monoterpenes, limonene, α-pinene, and β-pinene, have been studied. The Bell-Evans-Polanyi relationship (BEPR), Marcus cross relationship (MCR), and Robert-Steel relationship (RSR) are employed to study the factors that contribute to the kinetics of the H-shift reactions. Our results show distinct kinetic behaviors based on the size of the transition-state ring, the functional group present at the H atom abstraction site, and the type of carbon-centered radical formed. Except for the 1,5-H-shift reactions, the MCR successfully predicts the activation enthalpy with minimal mean absolute errors by dividing it into intrinsic and thermodynamic components. The RSR, which considers the bond dissociation energy, polarity effects, and structure factor while calculating the activation enthalpy, exhibits a good correlation (R2 = 0.97) with the activation enthalpy calculated through electronic structure calculations. The present study elucidates the factors contributing to the kinetics of the H-shift reactions, aiding in the development of reactivity prediction models.

Theoretical kinetic studies on intramolecular H-migration reactions of peroxy radicals of diethoxymethane

Diethoxymethane (DEM), a promising carbon-neutral fuel, has high reactivity at low temperatures. The intramolecular hydrogen migration reaction of the DEM peroxy radicals can be viewed as a critical step in the low temperature oxidation mechanism of DEM. In this work, multistructural transition state theory (MS-TST) was utilized to calculate the high-pressure limit rate constants of 1,5, 1,6 and 1,7 H-migration reactions for DEM peroxy radicals. In addition to the tunneling effects and anharmonic effects, the intramolecular effects, including steric hindrance, intramolecular hydrogen bonding and conformational changes in reactants and transition states, are also considered in the rate constant calculations. The calculated energy barriers and rate constants demonstrated the substantial impact of intramolecular effects on the kinetics of H-migration reactions in DEM peroxy radicals. Specifically, the distinct configurations of transition states could potentially influence the reaction kinetics. The pressure-dependent rate constants are computed using system-specific quantum RRK theory. The calculated results show that the falloff effect of 1,5 and 1,6 H-migration reactions is more pronounced than that of the 1,7 H-migration reaction. The thermodynamics and kinetics presented in this study could be instrumental in understanding the low-temperature oxidation mechanism of DEM and might prove crucial for future research on comprehensively analyzing the autoignition behavior.

Investigating the kinetics of the intramolecular H-migration reaction class of methyl-ester peroxy radicals in low-temperature oxidation mechanisms of biodiesel

Biodiesel is a promising, sustainable, and carbon-neutral fuel. However, studying its combustion mechanisms comprehensively, both theoretically and experimentally, presents challenges due to the complexity and size of its molecules. One significant obstacle in determining low-temperature oxidation mechanisms for biodiesel is the lack of kinetic parameters for the reaction class of intramolecular H-migration reactions of alkyl-ester peroxy radicals, labeled as R(CO)OR'-OO˙ (where the 'dot' represents the radical). Current biodiesel combustion mechanisms often estimate these parameters from the analogous reaction class of intramolecular H-migration reactions of alkyl peroxy radicals in alkane combustion mechanisms. However, such estimations are imprecise and neglect the unique characteristics of the ester group. This research aims to explore the kinetics of the reaction class of H-migration reactions of methyl-ester peroxy radicals. The reaction class is divided into 20 subclasses based on the newly formed cycle size of the transition state, the positions of the peroxy radical and the transferred H atom, and the types of carbons from which the H atom is transferred. Energy barriers for each subclass are calculated by using the CBS-QB3//M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) method. High-pressure-limit and pressure-dependent rate constants ranging from 0.01 to 100 atm are determined using the transition state theory and Rice-Ramsberger-Kassel-Marcus/master-equation method, respectively. It is noted that the pressure-dependent rate constants calculated for each individual isomerization channel could bring some uncertainties while neglecting the interconnected pathways. A comprehensive comparison is made between our values of selected reactions and high-level calculated values of the corresponding reactions reported in the literature. The small deviation observed between these values indicates the accuracy and reliability of the energy barriers and rate constants calculated in this study. Additionally, our calculated high-pressure-limit rate constants are compared with the corresponding values in combustion mechanisms of esters, which were estimated based on analogous reactions of alkyl peroxy radicals. These comparative analyses shed light on the significant impact of the ester group on the kinetics, particularly when the ester group is involved in the reaction center. Finally, the high-pressure-limit rate rule and pressure-dependent rate rule for each subclass are derived by averaging the rate constants of reactions in each subclass. The accurate and reasonable rate rules for methyl-ester peroxy radicals developed in this study play a crucial role in enhancing our understanding of the low-temperature oxidation mechanisms of biodiesel.

Sparsity Facilitates Chemical-Reaction Selection for Engine Simulations

Analysis of large-scale, realistic models incorporating detailed chemistry can be challenging because each simulation is computationally expensive, and a complete analysis may require many simulations. This paper addresses one such problem of this type, chemical-reaction selection in engine simulations. In this computationally challenging case, it is demonstrated how the important concept of sparsity can facilitate chemical-reaction selection, which is the process of finding the most important chemical reactions for modeling a chemical process. It is difficult to perform accurate reaction selection for engine simulations using realistic models of the chemistry, as each simulation takes processor weeks to complete. We developed a procedure to efficiently accomplish this selection process with a relatively small number of simulations using a form of global sensitivity analysis based on sparse regression. The chemical-reaction selection leads to an analysis of the ignition chemistry as it evolves within the compression-ignition engine simulations and allows for the spatial development of the selected chemical reactions to be studied in detail.

Assessing the Molecular Basis of the Fuel Octane Scale: A Detailed Investigation on the Rate Controlling Steps of the Autoignition of Heptane and Isooctane

N-Heptane and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (isooctane) are the key species in the modeling of ignition of hydrocarbon-based fuel formulations. Isooctane is knock-resistant whereas n-heptane is a very knock-prone hydrocarbon. It has been suggested that interconversion of their associated alkylperoxy and hydroperoxyalkyl species via hydrogen-transfer isomerization reaction is the key step to understand their different knocking behavior. In this work, the kinetics of unimolecular hydrogen-transfer reactions of n-heptylperoxy and isooctylperoxy are determined using canonical variational transition-state theory and multidimensional small curvature tunneling. Internal rotation of involved molecules is taken explicitly into account in the molecular partition function. The rate coefficients are calculated in the temperature range 300-900 K, relevant to low-temperature autoignition. The concerted HO₂ elimination is an important reaction that competes with some H-transfer and is associated with chain termination. Thus, the branching ratio between these reaction channels is analyzed. We show that variational and multidimensional tunneling effects cannot be neglected for the H-transfer reaction. In particular, the pre-exponential Arrhenius fitting parameter derived from our rate constants shows a strong dependence on the temperature, because tunneling increases quickly at temperatures below 500 K. On the basis of our results, the existing qualitative model for the reasons for different knock behavior observed for n-heptane and isooctane is quantitatively validated at the molecular level.

Atmospheric chemistry of CH3O: its unimolecular reaction and reactions with H2O, NH3, and HF

Herein, we present a definitive example where tunneling plays an important role in hydrogen atom transfer reactions.

The Stability of α-Hydroperoxyalkyl Radicals

High-level ab initio and Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamic calculations have been carried out on a series of hydroperoxyalkyl (α-QOOH) radicals with the aim of investigating the stability and unimolecular decomposition mechanism into QO+OH of these species. Dissociation was shown to take place through rotation of the C-O(OH) bond rather than through elongation of the CO-OH bond. Through the C-O(OH) rotation, the unpaired electron of the radical overlaps with the electron density on the O-OH bond, and from this overlap the C=O π bond forms and the O-OH bond breaks spontaneously. The CH₂ OOH, CH(CH₃ )OOH, CH(OH)OOH, and α-hydroperoxycycloheptadienyl radical were found to decompose spontaneously, but the CH(CHO)OOH has a decomposition energy barrier of 5.95 kcal mol^-1 owing to its steric and electronic features. The systems studied in this work provide the first insights into how structural and electronic effects govern the stabilizing influence on elusive α-QOOH radicals.

Theoretical Analysis of the Effect of C═C Double Bonds on the Low-Temperature Reactivity of Alkenylperoxy Radicals

Biodiesel contains a large proportion of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters. Its combustion characteristics, especially its ignition behavior at low temperatures, have been greatly affected by these C═C double bonds. In this work, we performed a theoretical analysis of the effect of C═C double bonds on the low-temperature reactivity of alkenylperoxy radicals, the key intermediates from the low-temperature combustion of biodiesel. To understand how double bonds affect the fate of peroxy radicals, we selected three representative peroxy radicals from heptane, heptene, and heptadiene having zero, one, and two double C═C bonds, respectively, for study. The potential energy surfaces were explored at the CBS-QB3 level, and the reaction rate constants were computed using canonical/variational transition state theories. We have found that the double bond is responsible for the very different bond dissociation energies of the various types of C-H bonds, which in turn affect significantly the reaction kinetics of alkenylperoxy radicals.

Hydroxyalkoxy radicals: importance of intramolecular hydrogen bonding on chain branching reactions in the combustion and atmospheric decomposition of hydrocarbons

During both the atmospheric oxidation and combustion of volatile organic compounds, sequential addition of oxygen can lead to compounds that contain multiple hydrogen-bonding sites. The presence of two or more of these sites on a hydrocarbon introduces the possibility of intramolecular H-bonding, which can have a stabilizing effect on the reactants, products, and transition states of subsequent reactions. The present work compares the absolute energies of two sets of conformations, those that contain intramolecular H-bonds and those that lack intramolecular H-bonds, for each reactant, product, and transition state species in the 1,2 through 1,7 H-migrations and Cα-Cβ, Cα-H, and Cα-OH-bond scission reactions in the n-hydroxyeth-1-oxy through n-hydroxyhex-1-oxy radicals, for n ranging from 1 to 6. The difference in energy between the two conformations represents the balance between the stabilizing effects of H-bonds and the steric cost of bringing the two H-bonding sites together. The effect of intramolecular H-bonding and the OH group is assessed by comparing the net intramolecular H-bond stabilization energies, the reaction enthalpies, and barrier heights of the n-hydroxyalkoxy radical reactions with the corresponding alkoxy radicals values. The results suggest that there is a complex dependence on the location of the two H-bonding groups, the location of the abstraction or bond scission, and the shape of the transition state that dictates the extent to which intramolecular H-bonding effects the relative importance of H-migration and bond scission reactions for each n-hydroxyalkoxy radical. These findings have important implications for future studies on hydrocarbons with multiple H-bonding sites.