Transition state theory electronic structure

Energy-resolved rate constant measurements near the threshold for triplet methylene formation from ketene have been used to provide confirmation of the fundamental hypothesis of statistical transition state theory (that rates are controlled by the number of energetically accessible vibrational states at the transition state). The electronic structure and aromaticity of planar singlet n -carbenes has been studied by 7t-electron coupling perturbation theory. The heats of formation of three ground-state triplet carbenes have been determined by collision-induced dissociation threshold analysis. The heats of formation of methylene, vinylcarbene (H2C=CHCH), and phenylcarbene were found to be 92.2 3.7, 93.3 3.4, and 102.8 33.5 kcal mol , respectively. 

The author would like to thank all the group members in the past and present who carried out all the researches discussed in this chapter Drs. C. Zhu, G. V. Mil nikov, Y. Teranishi, K. Nagaya, A. Kondorskiy, H. Fujisaki, S. Zou, H. Tamura, and P. Oloyede. He is indebted to Professors S. Nanbu and T. Ishida for their contributions, especially on molecular functions and electronic structure calculations. He also thanks Professor Y. Zhao for his work on the nonadiabatic transition state theory and electron transfer. The work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research on Studies of Nonadiabatic Chemical Dynamics based on the Zhu-Nakamura Theory from MEXT of Japan. 

The interpretation of phenomenological electron-transfer kinetics in terms of fundamental models based on transition state theory [1,3-6,10] has been hindered by our primitive understanding of the interfacial structure and potential distribution across ITIES. The structure of ITIES was initially studied by electrochemical and thermodynamic analyses, and more recently by computer simulations and interfacial spectroscopy. Classical electrochemical analysis based on differential capacitance and surface tension measurements has been extensively discussed in the literature [11-18]. The picture that emerged from... 

We have just discussed several common strategies that enzymes can use to stabilize the transition state of chemical reactions. These strategies are most often used in concert with one another to lead to optimal stabilization of the binary enzyme-transition state complex. What is most critical to our discussion is the fact that the structures of enzyme active sites have evolved to best stabilize the reaction transition state over other structural forms of the reactant and product molecules. That is, the active-site structure (in terms of shape and electronics) is most complementary to the structure of the substrate in its transition state, as opposed to its ground state structure. One would thus expect that enzyme active sites would bind substrate transition state species with much greater affinity than the ground state substrate molecule. This expectation is consistent with transition state theory as applied to enzymatic catalysis. 

Third, with recent advances made in theoretical and computational quantum mechanics, it is possible to estimate thermochemical information via electronic structure calculations (Dewar, 1975 Dunning et al., 1988). Such a capability, together with the transition state theory (TST) (Eyring, 1935), also allows the determination of the rate parameters of elementary reactions from first principles. Our ability to estimate activation energy barriers is... 

In addition to experiments, a range of theoretical techniques are available to calculate thermochemical information and reaction rates for homogeneous gas-phase reactions. These techniques include ab initio electronic structure calculations and semi-empirical approximations, transition state theory, RRKM theory, quantum mechanical reactive scattering, and the classical trajectory approach. Although still computationally intensive, such techniques have proved themselves useful in calculating gas-phase reaction energies, pathways, and rates. Some of the same approaches have been applied to surface kinetics and thermochemistry but with necessarily much less rigor. 

Theoretical studies of the microsolvation effect on SN2 reactions have also been reported by our coworkers and ourselves (Gonzalez-Lafont et al. 1991 Truhlar et al. 1992 Tucker and Truhlar 1990 Zhao et al. 1991b, 1992). Two approaches were used for interfacing electronic structure calculations with variational transitional state theory (VST) and tunneling calculations. We analyzed both the detailed dynamics of microsolvation and also its macroscopic consequences (rate coefficient values and kinetic isotope effects and their temperature... 

Gonzalez-Lafont A, Troung TN, Truhlar DG (1991) Interpolated variational transition-state theory practical methods for estimating variational transition-state properties and tunneling contributions to chemical reaction rates from electronic structure calculations, J Phys Chem 95 8875-8894... 

In 1984 Krauss and Stevens described tests and applications of the effective potential method used to gain knowledge of the electronic structure of the molecules in order to analyze the accuracy of the experimentally deduced dissociation energies of refractory metal salts [3]. They used the development of ab initio theoretical methods for the calculation of potential energy surfaces, which further allowed the direct computation of certain rate constants. Transition state theory was also utilized for this computation of some rate constants. However, as discussed by Krauss and Stevens, as of the mid 1980 s computational techniques were not yet readily applied to atmospheric science. Computing power and theoretical methods since these seminal reports have been greatly advanced. 

The simplest way to combine electronic stnicture calculations with nuclear dynamics is to use harmonic analysis to estimate both vibrational averaging effects on physico-chemical observables and reaction rates in terms of conventional transition state theory, possibly extended to incorporate tunneling corrections. This requires, at least, the knowledge of the structures, energetics, and harmonic force fields of the relevant stationary points (i.e. energy minima and first order saddle points connecting pairs of minima). Small anq)litude vibrations around stationary points are expressed in terms of normal modes Q, which are linearly related to cartesian coordinates x... 

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