Unimolecular rate constants

Four microscopic rate processes are considered bimolecular formation of metastable complexes with rate constant unimolecular redissociation of complexes to... 

A specific unimolecular rate constant for the decay of a highly excited molecule at energy E and angular momentum J takes the fomr... 

This yields die qiiasi-stationaty reaction rate with an effective unimolecular rate constant... 

The effective rate law correctly describes the pressure dependence of unimolecular reaction rates at least qualitatively. This is illustrated in figure A3,4,9. In the lunit of high pressures, i.e. large [M], becomes independent of [M] yielding the high-pressure rate constant of an effective first-order rate law. At very low pressures, product fonnation becomes much faster than deactivation. A j now depends linearly on [M]. This corresponds to an effective second-order rate law with the pseudo first-order rate constant Aq ... 

Figure A3.4.9. Pressure dependence of the effective unimolecular rate constant. Schematic fall-off curve for the Lindemaim-FIinshelwood mechanism. A is the (constant) high-pressure limit of the effective rate constant...

Gilbert R G, Luther K and Troe J 1983 Theory of thermal unimolecular reactions in the fall-off range. II. Weak collision rate constants Ber. Bunsenges. Phys. Chem. 87 169-77... 

Borkovec M, Straub J E and Berne B J The influence of intramolecular vibrational relaxation on the pressure dependence of unimolecular rate constants J. Chem. Phys. 85 146... 

RRKM theory assumes a microcanonical ensemble of A vibrational/rotational states within the energy interval E E + dE, so that each of these states is populated statistically with an equal probability [4]. This assumption of a microcanonical distribution means that the unimolecular rate constant for A only depends on energy, and not on the maimer in which A is energized. If N(0) is the number of A molecules excited at / =... 

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 deriving the RRKM rate constant in section A3.12.3.1. it is assumed that the rate at which reactant molecules cross the transition state, in the direction of products, is the same rate at which the reactants fonn products. Thus, if any of the trajectories which cross the transition state in the product direction return to the reactant phase space, i.e. recross the transition state, the actual unimolecular rate constant will be smaller than that predicted by RRKM theory. This one-way crossing of the transition state, witii no recrossmg, is a fiindamental assumption of transition state theory [21]. Because it is incorporated in RRKM theory, this theory is also known as microcanonical transition state theory. 

In particular, the probability of finding the unimolecular reactant within its potential energy well decreases according to this law. Thus F detemrines tire lifetune of the state and the state specific unimolecular rate constant is... 

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]. 

Pesiherbe G H and Hase W L 1996 Statistical anharmonic unimolecular rate constants for the... 

Quack M and Tree J 1974 Specific rate constants of unimolecular processes. II. Adiabatic channel model Ber. Bunsenges. Phys. Chem. 78 240-52... 

Miller W H 1979 Tunneling corrections to unimolecular rate constants, with applications to formaldehyde J. Am. Chem. See. 101 6810-14... 

Green W H, Moore C B and Polik W F 1992 Transition states and rate constants for unimolecular reactions Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 43 591-626... 

Troe J 1983 Specific rate constants k(E, J) for unimolecular bond fissions J. Chem. Phys. 79 6017-29... 

Song K and Hase W L 1999 Fitting classical microcanonical unimolecular rate constants to a modified RRK expression anharmonic and variational effects J. Chem. Phys. 110 6198-207... 

Mies F H and Krauss M 1966 Time-dependent behavior of activated molecules. High-pressure unimolecular rate constant and mass spectra J. Cham. Phys. 45 4455-68... 

Lu D-H and Hase W L 1989 Monoenergetic unimolecular rate constants and their dependence on pressure and fluctuations in state-specific unimolecular rate constants J. Phys. Chem. 93 1681-3... 

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... 

Thus, this eigenvalue detenuines the unimolecular steady-state reaction rate constant. 

Note that in the low pressure limit of iinimolecular reactions (chapter A3,4). the unimolecular rate constant /fu is entirely dominated by energy transfer processes, even though the relaxation and incubation rates... 

Troe J 1977 Theory of thermal unimolecular reactions at low pressures. II. Strong collision rate constants. Applications J. Chem. Phys. 66 4758... 

Fast transient studies are largely focused on elementary kinetic processes in atoms and molecules, i.e., on unimolecular and bimolecular reactions with first and second order kinetics, respectively (although confonnational heterogeneity in macromolecules may lead to the observation of more complicated unimolecular kinetics). Examples of fast thennally activated unimolecular processes include dissociation reactions in molecules as simple as diatomics, and isomerization and tautomerization reactions in polyatomic molecules. A very rough estimate of the minimum time scale required for an elementary unimolecular reaction may be obtained from the Arrhenius expression for the reaction rate constant, k = A. The quantity /cg T//i from transition state theory provides... 

The catalytic effect on unimolecular reactions can be attributed exclusively to the local medium effect. For more complicated bimolecular or higher-order reactions, the rate of the reaction is affected by an additional parameter the local concentration of the reacting species in or at the micelle. Also for higher-order reactions the pseudophase model is usually adopted (Figure 5.2). However, in these systems the dependence of the rate on the concentration of surfactant does not allow direct estimation of all of the rate constants and partition coefficients involved. Generally independent assessment of at least one of the partition coefficients is required before the other relevant parameters can be accessed. 

From this expression, it is obvious that the rate is proportional to the concentration of A, and k is the proportionality constant, or rate constant, k has the units of (time) usually sec is a function of [A] to the first power, or, in the terminology of kinetics, v is first-order with respect to A. For an elementary reaction, the order for any reactant is given by its exponent in the rate equation. The number of molecules that must simultaneously interact is defined as the molecularity of the reaction. Thus, the simple elementary reaction of A P is a first-order reaction. Figure 14.4 portrays the course of a first-order reaction as a function of time. The rate of decay of a radioactive isotope, like or is a first-order reaction, as is an intramolecular rearrangement, such as A P. Both are unimolecular reactions (the molecularity equals 1). 

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