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Silver oxide cluster cations (AgnOm+) can readily be produced by a number of methods including atmospheric-pressure spark ablation of pure silver electrodes when trace amounts of oxygen are present in the carrier gas. Here we determine the equilibrium geometries of AgnOm+ clusters (n = 1-4; m = 1-5) using accurate coupled cluster with singles and doubles (CCSD) method, while the stabilization energies are calculated with additional perturbative triples correction (CCSD(T)). Although a number of stable states have been identified, our results show that the AgnOm+ clusters with m = 1 are more stable than those with m ≥ 2 due to the absence of the terminally attached O2 molecule, corroborating recent observations by mass spectrometry. Using the computed structures, we calculate the electrical mobilities of the AgnOm+ clusters and label the values on a respective experimentally determined spectrum in an attempt to better interpret the occurrence of the peaks and troughs in the measurements., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage, Atmospheric Remote Sensing

Microscopic-level understanding of the separation mechanism for two-dimensional (2D) membranes is an active area of research due to potential implications of this class of membranes for various technological processes. Helium (He) purification from the natural resources is of particular interest due to the shortfall in its production. In this work, we applied the ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) method to graphdiyne (Gr2) and graphtriyne (Gr3) 2D membranes having variable pore sizes for the separation of He isotopes, and compare for the first time with rigorous quantum calculations. We found that the transmission rate through Gr3 is many orders of magnitude greater than Gr2. The selectivity of either isotope at low temperatures is a consequence of a delicate balance between the zero-point energy effect and tunneling of 4He and 3He. In particular, a remarkable tunneling effect is reported on the Gr2 membrane at 10 K, leading to a much larger permeation of the lighter species as compared to the heavier isotope. RPMD provides an efficient approach for studying the separation of He isotopes, taking into account quantum effects of light nuclei motions at low temperatures, which classical methods fail to capture.

The quantum dynamics of the title reactions are studied using the ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) method from 20 to 1200 K using recently proposed full dimensional potential energy surfaces which include long-range dipole-dipole interactions. A V-shaped dependence of the reaction rate constants is found with a minimum at 200-300 K, in rather good agreement with the current experimental data. For temperatures above 300 K the reaction proceeds following a direct H-abstraction mechanism. However, below 100 K the reaction proceeds via organic-molecule···OH collision complexes, with very long lifetimes, longer than 10 s, associated with quantum roaming arising from the inclusion of quantum effects by the use of RPMD. The long lifetimes of these complexes are comparable to the time scale of the tunnelling to form reaction products. These complexes are formed at zero pressure because of quantum effects and not only at high pressure as suggested by transition state theory (TST) calculations for OH + methanol and other OH reactions. The zero-pressure rate constants reproduce quite well measured ones below 200 K, and this agreement opens the question of how important the pressure effects on the reaction rate constants are, as implied in TST-like formalisms. The zero-pressure mechanism is applicable only to very low gas density environments, such as the interstellar medium, which are not repeatable by experiments.

The H + HeH+→ He + H2+ reaction has been studied by means of a combination of theoretical approaches: a statistical quantum method (SQM), ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD), and the quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method. Cross sections and rate constants have been calculated in an attempt to investigate the dynamics of the process. The comparison with previous calculations and experimental results reveals that despite the fact that statistical predictions seem to reproduce some of the overall observed features, the analysis at a more detailed state-to-state level shows noticeable deviations from a complex-forming dynamics. We find some differences in cross sections and rate constants obtained in the QCT calculation with a Gaussian binning procedure with respect to previous works in which the standard histogram binning was employed.

A recent ring polymer molecular dynamics study of the reactions of OH with methanol and formaldehyde at zero pressure and below 100 K has shown the formation of collision complexes with long lifetimes, longer than 100 ns for the lower temperatures studied, 20-100 K (del Mazo-Sevillano et al., 2019). These long lifetimes support the existence of multicollision events with the He buffer-gas atoms under experimental conditions, as suggested by several transition state theory studies of these reactions. In this work, we study these secondary collisions, as a dynamical approach to study pressure effects on these reactions. For this purpose, the potential energy surfaces of He with HCO, OH, HO, and HCO are calculated at highly accurate ab initio level. The stability of some of the complexes is studied using path integral molecular dynamics techniques, determining that OH-HCO complexes can be formed up to 100 K or higher temperatures, whereas the weaker He-HCO complexes dissociate at approximately 50 K. The predicted IR intensity spectra show new features which could help the identification of the OH-HCO complex. Finally, the He-HCO + OH and OH-HCO + He collisions are studied using quasi-classical trajectories, finding that the cross section to produce HCO + HO products increases with decreasing collision energy, and that it is ten times higher in the He-HCO + OH case. ©

Because of its fundamental importance in astrochemistry, the H + H → H + H reaction has been studied experimentally in a wide temperature range. Theoretical studies of the title reaction significantly lag primarily because of the challenges associated with the proper treatment of the zero-point energy (ZPE). As a result, all previous theoretical estimates for the ratio between a direct proton-hop and indirect exchange (via the H complex) channels deviate from the experiment, in particular, at lower temperatures where the quantum effects dominate. In this work, the ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) method is applied to study this reaction, providing very good agreement with the experiment. RPMD is immune to the shortcomings associated with the ZPE leakage and is able to describe the transition from direct to indirect mechanisms below room temperature. We argue that RPMD represents a useful tool for further studies of numerous ZPE-sensitive chemical reactions that are of high interest in astrochemistry.

Comprehensive mechanistic studies on the enantioselective aldol reaction between isatin (1a) and acetone, catalyzed by L-leucinol (3a), unraveled that isatin, apart from being a substrate, also plays an active catalytic role. Conversion of the intermediate oxazolidine 4 into the reactive syn-enamine 6, catalyzed by isatin, was identified as the rate-determining step by both the calculations (G=26.1kcalmol(-1) for the analogous L-alaninol, 3b) and the kinetic isotope effect (k(H)/k(D)=2.7 observed for the reaction using [D-6]acetone). The subsequent reaction of the syn-enamine 6 with isatin produces (S)-2a (calculated G=11.6kcalmol(-1)). The calculations suggest that the overall stereochemistry is controlled by two key events: 1)the isatin-catalyzed formation of the syn-enamine 6, which is thermodynamically favored over its anti-rotamer 7 by 2.3kcalmol(-1); and 2)the high preference of the syn-enamine 6 to produce (S)-2a on reaction with isatin (1a) rather than its enantiomer (G=2.6kcalmol(-1)).

Chirped-pulse (CP) Fourier transform rotational spectroscopy is uniquely suited for near-universal quantitative detection and structural characterization of mixtures that contain multiple molecular and radical species. In this work, we employ CP spectroscopy to measure product branching and extract information about the reaction mechanism, guided by kinetic modeling. Pyrolysis of ethyl nitrite, CH[subscript 3]CH[subscript 2]ONO, is studied in a Chen type flash pyrolysis reactor at temperatures of 1000–1800 K. The branching between HNO, CH[subscript 2]O, and CH[subscript 3]CHO products is measured and compared to the kinetic models generated by the Reaction Mechanism Generator software. We find that roaming CH[subscript 3]CH[subscript 2]ONO → CH[subscript 3]CHO + HNO plays an important role in the thermal decomposition of ethyl nitrite, with its rate, at 1000 K, comparable to that of the radical elimination channel CH[subscript 3]CH[subscript 2]ONO → CH[subscript 3]CH[subscript 2]O + NO. HNO is a signature of roaming in this system., Donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (Grant 50650-ND6), United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Award DEFG0287ER13671), United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Award DE-SC0001198), Swiss National Science Foundation (Postdoctoral Research Grant PBEZB2-140081)

Following our previous study of prototypical insertion reactions of energetically asymmetric type with the RPMD (Ring-Polymer Molecular Dynamics) method [Y. Li, Y. Suleimanov, and H. Guo, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 5, 700 (2014)], we extend it to two other prototypical insertion reactions with much less exothermicity (near thermoneutral), namely, X + H[subscript 2] → HX + H where X = C([superscript 1] D), S([superscript 1] D), in order to assess the accuracy of this method for calculating thermal rate coefficients for this class of reactions. For both chemical reactions, RPMD displays remarkable accuracy and agreement with the previous quantum dynamic results that make it encouraging for the future application of the RPMD to other barrier-less, complex-forming reactions involving polyatomic reactants with any exothermicity., United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Energy Frontier Research Center for Excitonics. Combustion Energy Frontier Research Center. Award DE-SC0001198), MIT Energy Initiative

Quantum effects play a crucial role in chemical reactions involving light atoms at low temperatures, especially when a light particle is exchanged between two heavier partners. Different theoretical methodologies have been developed in the last decades attempting to describe zero-point energy and tunneling effects without abandoning a classical or semiclassical framework. In this work, we have chosen the D + HMu → DMu + H reaction as a stress test system for three well-established methods: two representative versions of transition state theory (TST), canonical variational theory and semiclassical instanton, and ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD). These calculations will be compared with accurate quantum mechanical results. Despite its apparent simplicity, the exchange of the extremely light muonium atom (0.114 u) becomes a most challenging reaction for conventional methods. The main result of this work is that RPMD provides an overall better performance than TST-based methods for such a demanding reaction. RPMD might well turn out to be a useful tool beyond TST applicability., Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant CTQ2012-37404-C02), Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant Consolider Ingenio 2010 CSD2009-00038), United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Award DE-SC0001198)

The thermal rate constant of the O([superscript 3]P) + CH[subscript 4] → OH + CH[subscript 3] reaction is investigated with ring polymer molecular dynamics on a full-dimensional potential energy surface. Good agreement with experimental and full-dimensional quantum multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree results between 300 and 1500 K was obtained. It is shown that quantum effects, for example, tunneling and zero-point energy, can be effectively and efficiently included in this path-integral based approach implemented with classical trajectories. Convergence with respect to the number of beads is rapid, suggesting wide applicability for other reactions involving polyatomic molecules., United States. Dept. of Energy (DE-FG02-98ER14914), United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Combustion Energy Research Fellowship Award DE-SC0001198)

Using a recently developed full-dimensional accurate analytical potential energy surface [Gonzalez-Lavado, E., Corchado, J. C., and Espinosa-Garcia, J. J. Chem. Phys. 2014, 140, 064310], we investigate the thermal rate coefficients of the O([superscript 3]P) + CH[subscript 4]/CD[subscript 4] reactions with ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) and with variational transition-state theory with multidimensional tunneling corrections (VTST/MT). The results of the present calculations are compared with available experimental data for a wide temperature range 200–2500 K. In the classical high-temperature limit, the RPMD results match perfectly the experimental data, whereas VTST results are smaller by a factor of 2. We suggest that this discrepancy is due to the harmonic approximation used in the present VTST calculations, which leads to an overestimation of the variational effects. At low temperatures the tunneling plays an important role, which is captured by both methods, although they both overestimate the experimental values. The analysis of the kinetic isotope effects shows a discrepancy between both approaches, with the VTST values smaller by a factor about 2 at very low temperatures. Unfortunately, no experimental results are available to shed any light on this comparison, which keeps it as an open question., Gobierno de Extremadura, Spain, La Federacion Espanola de Enfermedades Raras (Project IB10001), United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Combustion Energy Research Center Award DE-SC0001198)

The thermal rate coefficients and kinetic isotope effects have been calculated using ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) for the prototypical reactions between methane and several hydrogen isotopes (H, D, and Mu). The excellent agreement with the theoretical rate coefficients of the H + CH[subscript 4] reaction obtained previously from a multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree calculation on the same potential energy surface provides strong evidence for the accuracy of the RPMD approach. These quantum mechanical rate coefficients are also in good agreement with the results obtained previously using the transition-state theory with semi-classical tunneling corrections for the H/D + CH[subscript 4] reactions. However, it is shown that the RPMD rate coefficients for the ultralight Mu reaction with CH[subscript 4] are significantly smaller than the experimental data, presumably suggesting inaccuracies in the potential energy surface and/or experimental errors. Significant discrepancies between the RPMD and transition-state theory results have also been found for this challenging system., United States. Dept. of Energy (Grant DE-FG02-98ER14914), United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Combustion Energy Research Fellowship Award DE-SC0001198)

The kinetic isotope effect (KIE) of the seven-atom reactions OH + CH[subscript 4] → CH[subscript 3] + H[subscript 2]O and OH + CD[subscript 4] → CD[subscript 3] + HDO over the temperature range 200–1000 K is investigated using ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) on a full-dimensional potential energy surface. A comparison of RPMD with previous theoretical results obtained using transition state theory shows that RPMD is a more reliable theoretical approach for systems with more than 6 atoms, which provides a predictable level of accuracy. We show that the success of RPMD is a direct result of its independence of the choice of transition state dividing surface, a feature that is not shared by any of the transition state theory-based methods. Our results demonstrate that RPMD is a prospective method for studies of KIEs for polyatomic reactions for which rigorous quantum mechanical calculations are currently impossible., United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Combustion Energy Research Fellowship Award DE-SC0001198), United States. Dept. of Energy (Grant DE-SC0001198)