Showing papers by "Mitchio Okumura published in 2006"

Experimental and ab Initio Study of the HO2·CH3OH Complex: Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Formation†

Abstract: Near-infrared spectroscopy was used to monitor HO_2 formed by pulsed laser photolysis of Cl_2−O_2−CH_3OH−N_2 mixtures. On the microsecond time scale, [HO_2] exhibited a time dependence consistent with a mechanism in which [HO_2] approached equilibrium via HO_2 + HO_3OH^M⇆_M HO_2·CH_3OH (3, −3). The equilibrium constant for reaction 3, Kp, was measured between 231 and 261 K at 50 and 100 Torr, leading to standard reaction enthalpy and entropy values (1 σ) of Δ_rH°_(246K) = −37.4 ± 4.8 kJ mol^(-1) and Δ_rS°_(246K) = −100 ± 19 J mol^(-1) K^(-1). The effective bimolecular rate constant, k_3, for formation of the HO_2·CH_3OH complex is 2.8^(+7.5)_(-2.0)·10^(-15)·exp[(1800 ± 500)/T] cm^3 molecule^(-1) s^(-1) at 100 Torr (1 σ). Ab initio calculations of the optimized structure and energetics of the HO_2·CH_3OH complex were performed at the CCSD(T)/6-311++G(3df,3pd)//MP2(full)/6-311++G(2df,2pd) level. The complex was found to have a strong hydrogen bond (D_e = 43.9 kJ mol^(-1)) with the hydrogen in HO_2 binding to the oxygen in CH_3OH. The calculated enthalpy for association is Δ_rH°_(245K) = −36.8 kJ mol^(-1). The potentials for the torsion about the O_2−H bond and for the hydrogen-bond stretch were computed and 1D vibrational levels determined. After explicitly accounting for these degrees of freedom, the calculated Third Law entropy of association is Δ_rS°_(245K) = −106 J mol^(-1) K^(-1). Both the calculated enthalpy and entropy of association are in reasonably good agreement with experiment. When combined with results from our previous study (Christensen et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2002, 29; doi:10.1029/2001GL014525), the rate coefficient for the reaction of HO_2 with the complex, HO_2 + HO_2·CH_3-OH, is determined to be (2.1 ± 0.7) × 10^(-11) cm^3 molecule^(-1) s^(-1). The results of the present work argue for a reinterpretation of the recent measurement of the HO_2 self-reaction rate constant by Stone and Rowley (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2005, 7, 2156). Significant complex concentrations are present at the high methanol concentrations used in that work and lead to a nonlinear methanol dependence of the apparent rate constant. This nonlinearity introduces substantial uncertainty in the extrapolation to zero methanol.

New insights into the Jahn-Teller effect in NO3 via the dark à 2E state

Abstract: The recent cavity ringdown (CRD) measurement of the forbidden A^2 E"←X~^2 A2' transition of the nitrate radical NO_3 reveals a rich, well-resolved spectrum in the near-infrared. The spectroscopic detail provides a new window onto the Jahn–Teller (JT) and pseudo-Jahn–Teller (PJT) effects in NO_3. This paper reviews the current experimental evidence for vibronic coupling in the A state and discusses the theoretical issues in the context of new preliminary EOMIP/CCSD and CCSD(T) calculations. The theoretical results to date indicate that the A 2E" state of NO_3 undergoes a relatively strong JT distortion which may require inclusion of higher order vibronic couplings. The intensity of this transition may involve multiple intensity borrowing mechanisms via PJT coupling among the X~, A and B~ states.