Adiabatic capture models for fast chemical reactions

Theoretical Study of Barrierless Chemical Reactions Involving Nearly Elastic Rebound: The Case of S(1D) + X2, X = H, D

For some values of the total angular momentum consistent with reaction, the title processes involve nonreactive trajectories proceeding through a single rebound mechanism during which the internal motion of the reagent diatom is nearly unperturbed. When such paths are in a significant amount, the classical reaction probability is found to be markedly lower than the quantum mechanical one. This finding was recently attributed to an unusual quantum effect called diffraction-mediated trapping, and a semiclassical correction was proposed in order to take into account this effect in the classical trajectory method. In the present work, we apply the resulting approach to the calculation of opacity functions as well as total and state-resolved integral cross sections (ICSs) and compare the values obtained with exact quantum ones, most of which are new. As the title reactions proceed through a deep insertion well, mean potential statistical calculations are also presented. Seven values of the collision energy, ranging from 30 to 1127 K, are considered. Two remarkable facts stand out: (i) The corrected classical treatment strongly improves the accuracy of the opacity function as compared to the usual classical treatment. When the entrance transition state is tight, however, those trajectories crossing it with a bending vibrational energy below the zero point energy must be discarded. (ii) The quantum opacity function, particularly its cutoff, is finely reproduced by the statistical approach. Consequently, the total ICS is also very well described by the two previous approximate methods. These, however, do not predict state-resolved ICSs with the same accuracy, proving thereby that (i) one or several genuine quantum effects involved in the dynamics are missed by the corrected classical treatment and (ii) the dynamics are not fully statistical.

Electronic nonadiabatic effects in low temperature radical-radical reactions. I. C(3P) + OH(2Π)

The formation of collision complexes, as a first step towards reaction, in collisions between two open-electronic shell radicals is treated within an adiabatic channel approach. Adiabatic channel potentials are constructed on the basis of asymptotic electrostatic, induction, dispersion, and exchange interactions, accounting for spin-orbit coupling within the multitude of electronic states arising from the separated reactants. Suitable coupling schemes (such as rotational + electronic) are designed to secure maximum adiabaticity of the channels. The reaction between C((3)P) and OH((2)Π) is treated as a representative example. The results show that the low temperature association rate coefficients in general cannot be represented by results obtained with a single (generally the lowest) potential energy surface of the adduct, asymptotically reaching the lowest fine-structure states of the reactants, and a factor accounting for the thermal population of the latter states. Instead, the influence of non-Born-Oppenheimer couplings within the multitude of electronic states arising during the encounter markedly increases the capture rates. This effect extends up to temperatures of several hundred K.

Influence of internal rotation on exothermic reactions between neutral molecules at low temperatures

A Langevin-type transition state model is developed to take account of the internal rotation energy in exothermic reactive collisions between neutral molecules. Energy and total angular momentum are both rigorously conserved. Reactive rate coefficients attain a maximum of a few 10(-10) cm(3)/s at temperatures in the range 10-30 K decreasing rapidly at higher temperatures. Results for a representative selection of well-studied systems, Si-O(2), CN-O(2), Si-NO, are in good agreement with experimental observations. At higher temperatures, typically around 100 K or greater, the rate coefficient exhibits a T(-1/3) dependence.

Adiabatic and diabatic invariants in ion-molecule reactions

A point charge interacting with a dipole (either induced or permanent) constitutes a completely integrable dynamical subsystem characterized by three first integrals of the motion (E, p(phi), and either l(2) or a Hamilton-Jacobi separation constant beta). An ion-molecule reaction (capture or fragmentation) can be seen as an interaction between such a subsystem and a bath of oscillators. This interaction is a perturbation that destroys some of the first integrals. However, the perturbation depends on the separation between the fragments and the destruction is gradual. The mathematical simplicity of the long-range electrostatic interaction potential leads to useful simplifications. A first-order perturbation treatment based on the structured and regular nature of the multipole expansion is presented. The separating integrals valid in the asymptotic limit are found to subsist at intermediate distances, although in a weaker form. As the reaction coordinate decreases, i.e., as the fragments approach, the asymptotic range is followed by an outer region where (i) the azimuthal momentum p(phi) remains a constant of the motion; (ii) the square angular momentum l(2) or the separation constant beta transform into a diabatic invariant in regions of phase space characterized by a high value of the translational momentum p(r); (iii) for low values of p(r), it is advantageous to use the action integral contour integral(p(theta)d theta), which is an adiabatic invariant. The conditions under which an effective potential obtained by adding centrifugal repulsion to an electrostatic attractive term can be validly constructed are specified. In short, the dynamics of ion-molecule interactions is still regular in parts of phase space corresponding to a range of the reaction coordinate where the interaction potential deviates from its asymptotic shape.

Role of angular momentum conservation in unimolecular translational energy release: Validity of the orbiting transition state theory

The translational kinetic energy release distribution (KERD) for the halogen loss reaction of the bromobenzene and iodobenzene cations has been reinvestigated on the microsecond time scale. Two necessary conditions of validity of the orbiting transition state theory (OTST) for the calculation of kinetic energy release distributions (KERDs) have been formulated. One of them examines the central ion-induced dipole potential approximation. As a second criterion, an adiabatic parameter is derived. The lower the released translational energy and the total angular momentum, the larger the reduced mass, the rotational constant of the molecular fragment, and the polarizability of the released atom, the more valid is the OTST. Only the low-energy dissociation of the iodobenzene ion (E approximately 0.45 eV, where E is the internal energy above the reaction threshold) is found to fulfill the criteria of validity of the OTST. The constraints that act on the dissociation dynamics have been studied by the maximum entropy method. Calculations of entropy deficiencies (which measure the deviation from a microcanonical distribution) show that the pair of fragments does not sample the whole of the phase space that is compatible with the mere specification of the internal energy. The major constraint that results from conservation of angular momentum is related to a reduction of the dimensionality of the dynamics of the translational motion to a two-dimensional space. A second and minor constraint that affects the KERD leads to a suppression of small translational releases, i.e., accounts for threshold behavior. At high internal energies, the effects of curvature of the reaction path and of angular momentum conservation are intricately intermeddled and it is not possible to specify the share of each effect.