Dissociation, unimolecular

The primary radical CH2OOH is expected to dissociate unimolecularly to regenerate the HO radical, i.e., reactions (15). 

Compounds under dissociative electron capture in the ECD. DEC(l) refers to molecules that can dissociate unimolecularly via a single potential energy curve. DEC(2) refers to molecules that can dissociate via a negative-ion intermediate. 

Such j -CsHs complexes are often found to be fluxional in solution at room temperature, the 5 H atoms giving rise to a single sharp H nmr resonance. At lower temperatures the spectrum usually broadens and finally resolves into the expected complex spectrum at temperatures which are sufficiently low to prevent interchange on the nmr time scale ( 10 s). Numerous experiments have been devised to elucidate the mechanism by which the H atoms become equivalent and, at least in some systems, it seems likely that a non-dissociative (unimolecular) 1,2-shift occurs. 

Khundkar L R, Marcus R A and Zewail A H 1983 Unimolecular reactions at low energies and RRKM-behaviour isomerization and dissociation J. Phys. Chem. 87 2473-6... 

A situation that arises from the intramolecular dynamics of A and completely distinct from apparent non-RRKM behaviour is intrinsic non-RRKM behaviour [9], By this, it is meant that A has a non-random P(t) even if the internal vibrational states of A are prepared randomly. This situation arises when transitions between individual molecular vibrational/rotational states are slower than transitions leading to products. As a result, the vibrational states do not have equal dissociation probabilities. In tenns of classical phase space dynamics, slow transitions between the states occur when the reactant phase space is metrically decomposable [13,14] on the timescale of the imimolecular reaction and there is at least one bottleneck [9] in the molecular phase space other than the one defining the transition state. An intrinsic non-RRKM molecule decays non-exponentially with a time-dependent unimolecular rate constant or exponentially with a rate constant different from that of RRKM theory. 

In the above discussion it was assumed that the barriers are low for transitions between the different confonnations of the fluxional molecule, as depicted in figure A3.12.5 and therefore the transitions occur on a timescale much shorter than the RRKM lifetime. This is the rapid IVR assumption of RRKM theory discussed in section A3.12.2. Accordingly, an initial microcanonical ensemble over all the confonnations decays exponentially. However, for some fluxional molecules, transitions between the different confonnations may be slower than the RRKM rate, giving rise to bottlenecks in the unimolecular dissociation [4, ]. The ensuing lifetime distribution, equation (A3.12.7), will be non-exponential, as is the case for intrinsic non-RRKM dynamics, for an mitial microcanonical ensemble of molecular states. 

Figure A3.12.8. Possible absorption spectrum for a molecule which dissociates via isolated compound-state resonances. Eq is the unimolecular threshold. (Adapted from [4].)...

A covalent bond (or particular nomial mode) in the van der Waals molecule (e.g. the I2 bond in l2-He) can be selectively excited, and what is usually observed experimentally is that the unimolecular dissociation rate constant is orders of magnitude smaller than the RRKM prediction. This is thought to result from weak coupling between the excited high-frequency intramolecular mode and the low-frequency van der Waals intemiolecular modes [83]. This coupling may be highly mode specific. Exciting the two different HE stretch modes in the (HF)2 dimer with one quantum results in lifetimes which differ by a factor of 24 [84]. Other van der Waals molecules studied include (NO)2 [85], NO-HF [ ], and (C2i J )2 [87]. 

Figure A3.12.9. Comparison of the unimolecular dissociation rates for HO2—>H+02 as obtained from the quantum mechanical resonances open circles) and from variational transition state RRKM step...

Detailed analyses of the above experiments suggest that the apparent steps in k E) may not arise from quantized transition state energy levels [110.111]. Transition state models used to interpret the ketene and acetaldehyde dissociation experiments are not consistent with the results of high-level ab initio calculations [110.111]. The steps observed for NO2 dissociation may originate from the opening of electronically excited dissociation chaimels [107.108]. It is also of interest that RRKM-like steps in k E) are not found from detailed quantum dynamical calculations of unimolecular dissociation [91.101.102.112]. More studies are needed of unimolecular reactions near tln-eshold to detennine whether tiiere are actual quantized transition states and steps in k E) and, if not, what is the origin of the apparent steps in the above measurements of k E). 

As discussed in section A3.12.2. intrinsic non-RRKM behaviour occurs when there is at least one bottleneck for transitions between the reactant molecule s vibrational states, so drat IVR is slow and a microcanonical ensemble over the reactant s phase space is not maintained during the unimolecular reaction. The above discussion of mode-specific decomposition illustrates that there are unimolecular reactions which are intrinsically non-RRKM. Many van der Waals molecules behave in this maimer [4,82]. For example, in an initial microcanonical ensemble for the ( 211 )2 van der Waals molecule both the C2H4—C2H4 intennolecular modes and C2H4 intramolecular modes are excited with equal probabilities. However, this microcanonical ensemble is not maintained as the dimer dissociates. States with energy in the intermolecular modes react more rapidly than do those with the C2H4 intramolecular modes excited [85]. 

Definitive examples of intrinsic non-RRKM dynamics for molecules excited near their unimolecular tluesholds are rather limited. Calculations have shown that intrinsic non-RRKM dynamics becomes more pronounced at very high energies, where the RRKM lifetime becomes very short and dissociation begins to compete with IVR [119]. There is a need for establishing quantitative theories (i.e. not calculations) for identifying which molecules and energies lead to intrinsic non-RRKM dynamics. For example, at thenual... 

Marcus R A 1952 Unimolecular dissociations and free radical recombination reactions J. Chem. Rhys. 20 359-64... 

Bunker D L 1964 Monte Carlo calculations. IV. Further studies of unimolecular dissociation J. Chem. 

Klippenstein S J 1992 Variational optimizations in the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory calculations for unimolecular dissociations with no reverse barrier J. Chem. Rhys. 96 367-71... 

Viswanathan R, Raff L M and Thompson D L 1984 Monte Carlo random walk calculations of unimolecular dissociation of methane J. Chem. Phys. 81 3118-21... 

Sloane C S and Hase W L 1977 On the dynamics of state selected unimolecular reactions chloroacetylene dissociation and predissociation J. Chem. Phys. 66 1523-33... 

Tobiason J D, Dunlap J R and Rohifing E A 1995 The unimolecular dissociation of HCO a spectroscopic study of resonance energies and widths J. Cham. Phys. 103 1448-69... 

Stock C, Li X, Keller H-M, Schinke R and Temps F 1997 Unimolecular dissociation dynamics of highly vibrationally excited DCO x-A t- I- Investigation of dissociative resonance states by stimulated emission pumping spectroscopy J. Cham. Phys. 106 5333-58... 

Barnes R J, Dutton G and Sinha A 1997 Unimolecular dissociation of HOCI near threshold quantum state and time-resolved studies J. Phys. Cham. A 101 8374-7... 

Polik W F, Guyer D R, Miller W H and Moore C B 1990 Eigenstate-resolved unimolecular reaction dynamics ergodic character of Sq formaldehyde at the dissociation threshold J. Chem. Phys. 92 3471-84... 

Stumpf M, Dobbyn A J, Keller H-M, Hase W L and Schinke R 1995 Quantum mechanical study of the unimolecular dissociation of HO2 a rigorous test of RRKM theory J. Chem. Phys. 102 5867-70... 

Dobbyn A J, Stumpf M, Keller H-M and Schinke R 1996 Theoretical study of the unimolecular dissociation HO2—>H+02. II. Calculation of resonant states, dissociation rates, and O2 product state distributions J. Chem. Phys. 104 8357-81... 

Song K and Hase W L 1998 Role of state specificity in the temperature- and pressure-dependent unimolecular rate constants for H02->H+02 dissociation J. Phys. Chem. A 102 1292-6... 

Schinke R, Beck C, Grebenshchikov S Y and Keller H-M 1998 Unimolecular dissociation a state-specific quantum mechanical perspective Ber. Bunsenges. Phys. Chem. 102 593-611... 

On the other hand, at high temperatures, wiUand may merge. This is illustrated in figure A3.13.3 for the classic example of thermal unimolecular dissociation [48, 49, and M ] ... 

Lin C Y and Dunbar R C 1994 Time-resolved photodissociation rates and kinetic modeling for unimolecular dissociations of iodotoluene ions J. Rhys. Chem. 98 1369-75... 

---