Tunneling of Carbenes

Carbenes, as species bearing a carbon atom with an unfilled octet, are especially reactive. Their rich chemistry is dominated by inseation reactions and 

Over the past five years, Schreiner has uncovered just 

Previous computations at CCSD(T)/CBS ° and Schreiner s own computations at CCSD(T)/cc-pCVQZ indicate that 53 has a large singlet-triplet gap of 

7 kcal mol and fragmentation into CO2 and H2 has a barrier of 47.0 kcal mol . It seems that 53 should exist indefinitely in the argon matrix. 

This is supported by computed rate constants with tunneling contributions using the semiclassical Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) theory. The WKB procedure requires a carefully described intrinsic reaction path, and 

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