Atmospheric Ring-Closure and Dehydration Reactions of 1,4-Hydroxycarbonyls in the Gas Phase: The Impact of Catalysts.

1,4-Hydroxycarbonyls can potentially undergo sequential reactions involving cyclization followed by dehydration to form dihydrofurans. As dihydrofurans contain a double bond, they are highly reactive toward atmospheric oxidants such as OH, O3, and NO3. In the present study, we use ab initio calculations to examine the impact of various atmospheric catalysts on the energetics and kinetics of the gas-phase cyclization and dehydration reaction steps associated with 4-hydroxybutanal, a prototypical 1,4-hydroxycarbonyl molecule. The cyclization step transforms 4-hydroxybutanal into 2-hydroxytetrahydrofuran, which can subsequently undergo dehydration to form 2,3-dihydrofuran. As the barriers associated with the cyclization and dehydration steps for 4-hydroxybutanal are, respectively, 34.8 and 63.0 kcal/mol in the absence of a catalyst, both reaction steps are inaccessible under atmospheric conditions in the gas phase. However, the presence of a suitable catalyst can significantly reduce the reaction barriers, and we have examined the impact of a single molecule of H2O, HO2 radical, HC(O)OH, HNO3, and H2SO4 on these reactions. We find that H2SO4 reduces the reaction barriers the greatest, with the barrier for the cyclization step being reduced to -13.1 kcal/mol and that for the dehydration step going down to 9.2 kcal/mol, measured relative to their respective separated starting reactants. Interestingly, our kinetic study shows that HNO3 gives the fastest rate due to the combined effects of a larger atmospheric concentration and a reduced barrier. Thus, our study suggests that, with acid catalysis, the cyclization reaction step can readily occur for 1,4-hydroxycarbonyls in the gas phase. Because the dehydration step exhibits a significant barrier even with acid catalysis, the 2-hydroxytetrahydrofuran products, once formed, are likely lost through their reaction with OH radicals in the atmosphere. We have investigated the reaction pathways and the rate constant for this bimolecular reaction in the presence of excess molecular oxygen (3O2), as it would occur under tropospheric conditions, using computational chemistry over the 200-300 K temperature range. We find that the main products from these OH-initiated oxidation reactions are succinaldehyde + HO2 and 2,3-dihydro-2-furanol + HO2.

Atmospheric Decomposition of Trifluoromethanol Catalyzed by Formic Acid.

Quantum chemistry calculations are used to investigate the energetics and kinetics of CF3OH decomposition catalyzed by a single formic acid (FA) molecule acting alone and in conjunction with a single water (H2O) molecule to form the products carbonyl fluoride (CF2O) and hydrofluoric acid (HF). While the uncatalyzed reaction has a barrier of ∼44.7 kcal/mol, the presence of a FA molecule reduces the barrier to 6.4 kcal/mol, while the presence of both a FA and H2O molecule acting in unison decreases the barrier to -1.6 kcal/mol measured relative to the separated reactants. For comparison, we have also examined the decomposition of CF3OH catalyzed by HO2 and HO2 + H2O, which have been suggested in the literature to be an important atmospheric catalyst for CF3OH decomposition. In addition, we have also examined the loss of CF3OH via its bimolecular reaction with OH radicals. The rate constants for these various reactions were calculated using canonical variational transition state theory coupled with small curvature tunneling corrections over the temperature range between 200 and 300 K. Our results show that the rates for the CF3OH + FA and CF3OH + FA + H2O reactions are ∼104 times faster compared, respectively, to the corresponding reactions involving CF3OH + HO2 and CF3OH + HO2 + H2O at 300 K. Further, we find that, although the CF3OH + FA reaction has a higher barrier compared to CF3OH + FA + H2O, measured relative to the separated reagents, its effective first order rate for CF3OH decomposition is significantly faster for temperatures above 240 K compared to that of CF3OH + FA + H2O. This trend arises from the higher unimolecular reaction barrier for the reactant complex associated with the CF3OH + H2O + FA reaction compared to that for CF3OH + FA, as well as the lower concentration of reactant dimer complexes for CF3OH + H2O + FA compared to the concentration of the monomer FA reactant in the CF3OH + FA reaction. Finally, our calculations show that the rate for CF3OH decomposition catalyzed by FA is ∼104 times faster relative to the loss of CF3OH via its bimolecular reaction with OH radicals over the 200-300 K temperature range. Thus, the present study suggests that, among the various known loss mechanisms, a unimolecular reaction catalyzed by FA is likely the dominant gas phase decomposition pathway for CF3OH in the troposphere.

Organic Acid Formation from the Atmospheric Oxidation of Gem Diols: Reaction Mechanism, Energetics, and Rates.

Computational chemistry is used to investigate the gas phase reaction of several gem diols in the presence of OH radical and molecular oxygen (3O2) as would occur in the Earth's troposphere. Four gem diols, represented generically as R-HC(OH)2, with R being either -H, -CH3, -HC(O), and -CH3C(O) are investigated. We find that after the abstraction of the hydrogen atom from the C-H moiety of the diol by atmospheric OH, molecular oxygen quickly adds onto the resulting radicals leading to the formation of a geminal diol peroxy adduct (R-C(OO)(OH)2), which is the key intermediate in the oxidation process. Unimolecular reaction of this R-C(OO)(OH)2 radical adduct, occurs via a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) mechanism and leads to the formation of an organic acid and a HO2 radical. Further, the barrier for the unimolecular reaction step decreases along the R substitution series: -H, -CH3, -HC(O), -CH3C(O); this trend most likely arises from increased internal hydrogen bonding along the series. The reaction where the R group is CH3C(O), associated with methylglyoxal diol, has the lowest barrier with its transition state being ∼4.3 kcal/mol above the potential energy well of the corresponding CH3C(O)-C(OO)(OH)2 peroxy adduct. The rate constants for the four diol oxidation reactions were investigated using the MESMER master equation solver kinetics code over the temperature range between 200 and 300 K. The calculations suggest that once formed, gem diol radicals react rapidly with O2 in the atmosphere to produce organic acids and HO2 with an effective gas phase bimolecular rate constant of ∼1 × 10-11 cm3/molecule s at 300 K.

Role of Torsion-Vibration Coupling in the Overtone Spectrum and Vibrationally Mediated Photochemistry of CH3OOH and HOOH.

The yield of vibrationally excited OH fragments resulting from the vibrationally mediated photodissociation of methyl hydroperoxide (CH3OOH) excited in the vicinity of its 2νOH and 3νOH stretching overtones is compared with that resulting from excitation of the molecule to states with three quanta in the CH stretches and to the state with two quanta in the OH stretch and one in the OOH bend (2νOH + νOOH). We find that the OH fragment vibrational state distribution depends strongly on the vibrational state of CH3OOH prior to photodissociation. Specifically, dissociation from the CH stretch overtones and the stretch/bend combination band involving the OH stretch and OOH bend produced significantly less vibrationally excited OH fragments compared to that produced following excitation of CH3OOH to an overtone in the OH stretch. While the absence of vibrationally excited OH photoproducts following excitation of the CH overtone is not surprising, the lack of vibrationally excited OH following excitation to the 2νOH+νOOH combination band is unexpected given that photodissociation following excitation to the lower-energy 2νOH state produces OH products in v = 1 as well as in its ground state. This trend persists even when the electronic photodissociation wavelength is changed from 532 to 355 nm and thus suggests that the observed disparity arises from differences in the nature of the initially populated vibrational states. This lack of vibrationally excited OH products likely reflects the enhanced intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution associated with the stretch/bend combination level compared to the pure OH stretch overtone. Consistent with this hypothesis, photodissociation from the stretch/bend combination level of the smaller HOOH molecule produces more vibrationally excited OH fragments compared to that resulting from the corresponding state of CH3OOH. These results are investigated using second-order vibrational perturbation theory based on an internal coordinate representation of the normal modes. Consistent with the observations, the first-order correction to the wave function shows stronger coupling of the 2νOH+νOOH state to states with torsion excitation compared to the other bands considered in this study.

A Computational Study Investigating the Energetics and Kinetics of the HNCO + (CH3)2NH Reaction Catalyzed by a Single Water Molecule.

High-level ab initio calculations are used to explore the energetics and kinetics for the formation of 1,1-dimethyl urea via the reaction of isocyanic acid (HNCO) with dimethyl amine (DMA) catalyzed by a single water molecule. Compared to the uncatalyzed HNCO + DMA reaction, the presence of a water molecule lowers the reaction barrier, defined here as the energy difference between the separated HNCO + DMA + H2O reactants and the transition state (TS), by ∼26 kcal/mol. In addition to the HNCO + DMA + H2O reaction, the energetics of the analogous reactions involving, respectively, ammonia and methyl amine were also investigated. Comparing the barriers for these three amine addition reactions, which can be represented as HNCO + R-NH-R' + H2O with R and R' being either -CH3 or -H, we find that the reaction barrier decreases with the degree of methylation on the amine nitrogen atom. The effective rate constants for the bimolecular reaction pathways HNCO··H2O + DMA and HNCO··DMA + H2O were calculated using canonical variational TS theory coupled with both small curvature and zero-curvature tunneling corrections over the 200-300 K temperature range. For comparison, we also calculated the rate constant for the HNCO + OH reaction. Our results suggest that the HNCO + H2O + DMA reaction can make a non-negligible contribution to the gas-phase removal of atmospheric HNCO under conditions where the HNCO and water concentrations are high and the temperature is low.

Oxygenate-Induced Tuning of Aldehyde-Amine Reactivity and Its Atmospheric Implications.

Atmospheric aerosols often contain a significant fraction of carbon-nitrogen functionality, which makes gas-phase aldehyde-amine chemistries an important source of nitrogen containing compounds in aerosols. Here we use high-level ab initio calculations to examine the key determinants of amine (ammonia, methylamine, and dimethylamine) addition onto three different aldehydes (acetaldehyde, glycolaldehyde, and 2-hydroperoxy acetaldehyde), with each reaction being catalyzed by a single water molecule. The model aldehydes reflect different degrees of oxygenation at a site adjacent to the carbonyl moiety, the α-site, and represent typical oxygenates that can arise from atmospheric oxidation especially under conditions where the concentration of NO is low. Our results show that the reaction barrier is influenced not only by the nature of the amine but also by the nature of the aldehyde. We find that, for a given amine, the reaction barrier decreases with increasing oxygenation of the aldehyde. This observed trend in barrier height can be explained through a distortion/interaction analysis, which reveals a gradual increase in internal hydrogen bonding interactions upon increased oxygenation, which, in turn, impacts the reaction barrier. Further, the calculations reveal that the reactions of methylamine and dimethylamine with the oxygenated aldehydes are barrierless under catalysis by a single water molecule. As a result, we expect these addition reactions to be energetically feasible under atmospheric conditions. The present findings have important implications for atmospheric chemistry as amine-aldehyde addition reactions can facilitate aerosol growth by providing low-energy neutral pathways for the formation of larger, less volatile compounds, from readily available smaller components.

Role of Double Hydrogen Atom Transfer Reactions in Atmospheric Chemistry.

Hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactions are ubiquitous and play a crucial role in chemistries occurring in the atmosphere, biology, and industry. In the atmosphere, the most common and traditional HAT reaction is that associated with the OH radical abstracting a hydrogen atom from the plethora of organic molecules in the troposphere via R-H + OH → R + H2O. This reaction motif involves a single hydrogen transfer. More recently, in the literature, there is an emerging framework for a new class of HAT reactions that involves double hydrogen transfers. These reactions are broadly classified into four categories: (i) addition, (ii) elimination, (iii) substitution, and (iv) rearrangement. Hydration and dehydration are classic examples of addition and elimination reactions, respectively whereas tautomerization or isomerization belongs to a class of rearrangement reactions. Atmospheric acids and water typically mediate these reactions. Organic and inorganic acids are present in appreciable levels in the atmosphere and are capable of facilitating two-point hydrogen bonding interactions with oxygenates possessing an hydroxyl and/or carbonyl-type functionality. As a result, acids influence the reactivity of oxygenates and, thus, the energetics and kinetics of their HAT-based chemistries. The steric and electronic effects of acids play an important role in determining the efficacy of acid catalysis. Acids that reduce the steric strain of 1:1 substrate···acid complex are generally better catalysts. Among a family of monocarboxylic acids, the electronic effects become important; barrier to the catalyzed reaction correlates strongly with the pKa of the acid. Under acid catalysis, the hydration of carbonyl compounds leads to the barrierless formation of diols, which can serve as seed particles for atmospheric aerosol growth. The hydration of sulfur trioxide, which is the principle mechanism for atmospheric sulfuric acid formation, also becomes barrierless under acid catalysis. Rate calculations suggest that such acid catalysis play a key role in the formation of sulfuric acid in the Earth's stratosphere, Venusian atmosphere, and on heterogeneous surfaces. Over the past few years, theoretical calculations have shown that these acid-mediated double hydrogen atom transfers are important in the chemistry of Earth's atmosphere as well as that of other planets. This Account reviews and puts into perspective some of these atmospheric HAT reactions and their environmental significance.

Dimethylamine Addition to Formaldehyde Catalyzed by a Single Water Molecule: A Facile Route for Atmospheric Carbinolamine Formation and Potential Promoter of Aerosol Growth.

We use ab initio calculations to investigate the energetics and kinetics associated with carbinolamine formation resulting from the addition of dimethylamine to formaldehyde catalyzed by a single water molecule. Further, we compare the energetics for this reaction with that for the analogous reactions involving methylamine and ammonia separately. We find that the reaction barrier for the addition of these nitrogen-containing molecules onto formaldehyde decreases along the series ammonia, methylamine, and dimethylamine. Hence, starting with ammonia, the reaction barrier can be "tuned" by the substitution of an alkyl group in place of a hydrogen atom. The reaction involving dimethylamine has the lowest barrier with the transition state being 5.4 kcal/mol below the (CH3)2NH + H2CO + H2O separated reactants. This activation energy is significantly lower than that for the bare reaction occurring without water, H2CO + (CH3)2NH, which has a barrier of 20.1 kcal/mol. The negative barrier associated with the single-water molecule catalyzed reaction of dimethylamine with H2CO to form the carbinolamine (CH3)2NCH2OH suggests that this reaction should be energetically feasible under atmospheric conditions. This is confirmed by rate calculations which suggest that the reaction will be facile even in the gas phase. As amines and oxidized organics containing carbonyl functional groups are common components of secondary organic aerosols, the present finding has important implications for understanding how larger, less volatile organic compounds can be generated in the atmosphere by combining readily available smaller components as required for promoting aerosol growth.

Carboxylic acid catalyzed hydration of acetaldehyde.

Electronic structure calculations of the pertinent stationary points on the potential energy surface show that carboxylic acids can act effectively as catalysts in the hydration of acetaldehyde. Barriers to this catalyzed process correlate strongly with the pKa of the acid, providing the potential to provide the predictive capacity of the effectiveness of carboxylic acid catalysts. Transition states for the acid-catalyzed systems take the form of pseudo-six-membered rings through the linear nature of their hydrogen bonds, which accounts for their relative stability compared to the more strained direct and water-catalyzed systems. When considered as a stepwise reaction of a dimerization followed by reaction/complexation, it is likely that collisional stabilization of the prereactive complex is more likely than reaction in the free gas phase, although the catalyzed hydration does retain the potential to proceed on water surfaces or in droplets. Lastly, it is observed that postreactive diol-acid complexes are significantly stable (∼12-17 kcal/mol) relative to isolated products, suggesting the possibility of long-lived hygroscopic species that could act as a seed molecule for condensation of secondary organic aerosols.

Hydrolysis of ketene catalyzed by formic acid: modification of reaction mechanism, energetics, and kinetics with organic acid catalysis.

The hydrolysis of ketene (H2C═C═O) to form acetic acid involving two water molecules and also separately in the presence of one to two water molecules and formic acid (FA) was investigated. Our results show that, while the currently accepted indirect mechanism, involving addition of water across the carbonyl C═O bond of ketene to form an ene-diol followed by tautomerization of the ene-diol to form acetic acid, is the preferred pathway when water alone is present, with formic acid as catalyst, addition of water across the ketene C═C double bond to directly produce acetic acid becomes the kinetically favored pathway for temperatures below 400 K. We find not only that the overall barrier for ketene hydrolysis involving one water molecule and formic acid (H2C2O + H2O + FA) is significantly lower than that involving two water molecules (H2C2O + 2H2O) but also that FA is able to reduce the barrier height for the direct path, involving addition of water across the C═C double bond, so that it is essentially identical with (6.4 kcal/mol) that for the indirect ene-diol formation path involving addition of water across the C═O bond. For the case of ketene hydrolysis involving two water molecules and formic acid (H2C2O + 2H2O + FA), the barrier for the direct addition of water across the C═C double bond is reduced even further and is 2.5 kcal/mol lower relative to the ene-diol path involving addition of water across the C═O bond. In fact, the hydrolysis barrier for the H2C2O + 2H2O + FA reaction through the direct path is sufficiently low (2.5 kcal/mol) for it to be an energetically accessible pathway for acetic acid formation under atmospheric conditions. Given the structural similarity between acetic and formic acid, our results also have potential implications for aqueous-phase chemistry. Thus, in an aqueous environment, even in the absence of formic acid, though the initial mechanism for ketene hydrolysis is expected to involve addition of water across the carbonyl bond as is currently accepted, the production and accumulation of acetic acid will likely alter the preferred pathway to one involving addition of water across the ketene C═C double bond as the reaction proceeds.

UV photochemistry of peroxyformic acid (HC(O)OOH): an experimental and computational study investigating 355 nm photolysis.

The photochemistry of peroxyformic acid (PFA), a molecule of atmospheric interest exhibiting internal hydrogen bonding, is examined by exciting the molecule at 355 nm and detecting the nascent OH fragments using laser-induced fluorescence. The OH radicals are found to be formed in their ground electronic state with the vast majority of available energy appearing in fragment translation. The OH fragments are vibrationally cold (v" = 0) with only modest rotational excitation. The average rotational energy is determined to be 0.35 kcal/mol. Further, the degree of OH rotational excitation from PFA is found to be significantly less than that arising from the dissociation of H2O2 as well as other hydroperoxides over the same wavelength. Ab initio calculation at the EOM-CCSD level is used to investigate the first few electronic excited states of PFA. Differences in the computed torsional potential between PFA and H2O2 help rationalize the observed variation in their respective OH fragment rotational excitation. The calculations also establish that the electronic excited state of PFA accessed in the near UV is of (1)A" symmetry and involves a σ*(O-O) ← n(O) excitation. Additionally, the UV absorption cross section of PFA at 355 and 282 nm is estimated by comparing the yield of OH from PFA at these wavelengths to that from hydrogen peroxide for which the absorption cross sections is known.

Hydrolysis of glyoxal in water-restricted environments: formation of organic aerosol precursors through formic acid catalysis.

The hydrolysis of glyoxal involving one to three water molecules and also in the presence of a water molecule and formic acid has been investigated. Our results show that glyoxal-diol is the major product of the hydrolysis and that formic acid, through its ability to facilitate intermolecular hydrogen atom transfer, is considerably more efficient than water as a catalyst in the hydrolysis process. Additionally, once the glyoxal-diol is formed, the barrier for further hydrolysis to form the glyoxal-tetrol is effectively reduced to zero in the presence of a single water and formic acid molecule. There are two important implications arising from these findings. First, the results suggest that under the catalytic influence of formic acid, glyoxal hydrolysis can impact the growth of atmospheric aerosols. As a result of enhanced hydrogen bonding, mediated through their polar OH functional groups, the diol and tetrol products are expected to have significantly lower vapor pressure than the parent glyoxal molecule; hence they can more readily partition into the particle phase and contribute to the growth of secondary organic aerosols. In addition, our findings provide insight into how glyoxal-diol and glyoxal-tetrol might be formed under atmospheric conditions associated with water-restricted environments and strongly suggest that the formation of these precursors for secondary organic aerosol growth is not likely restricted solely to the bulk aqueous phase as is currently assumed.

Gas phase hydrolysis of formaldehyde to form methanediol: impact of formic acid catalysis.

We find that formic acid (FA) is very effective at facilitating diol formation through its ability to reduce the barrier for the formaldehyde (HCHO) hydrolysis reaction. The rate limiting step in the mechanism involves the isomerization of a prereactive collision complex formed through either the HCHO···H2O + FA and/or HCHO + FA···H2O pathways. The present study finds that the effective barrier height, defined as the difference between the zero-point vibrational energy (ZPE) corrected energy of the transition state (TS) and the HCHO···H2O + FA and HCHO + FA···H2O starting reagents, are respectively only ∼1 and ∼4 kcal/mol. These barriers are substantially lower than the ∼17 kcal/mol barrier associated with the corresponding step in the hydrolysis of HCHO catalyzed by a single water molecule (HCHO + H2O + H2O). The significantly lower barrier heights for the formic acid catalyzed pathway reveal a new important role that organic acids play in the gas phase hydrolysis of atmospheric carbonyl compounds.

Computational study of hydrogen-bonded complexes of HOCO with acids: HOCO⋯HCOOH, HOCO⋯H2SO4, and HOCO⋯H2CO3.

Quantum chemistry calculations at the density functional theory (DFT) (B3LYP), MP2, QCISD, QCISD(T), and CCSD(T) levels in conjunction with 6-311++G(2d,2p) and 6-311++G(2df,2p) basis sets have been performed to explore the binding energies of open-shell hydrogen bonded complexes formed between the HOCO radical (both cis-HOCO and trans-HOCO) and trans-HCOOH (formic acid), H(2)SO(4) (sulfuric acid), and cis-cis-H(2)CO(3) (carbonic acid). Calculations at the CCSD(T)∕6-311++G(2df,2p) level predict that these open-shell complexes have relatively large binding energies ranging between 9.4 to 13.5 kcal∕mol and that cis-HOCO (cH) binds more strongly compared to trans-HOCO in these complexes. The zero-point-energy-corrected binding strengths of the cH⋯Acid complexes are comparable to that of the formic acid homodimer complex (∼13-14 kcal∕mol). Infrared fundamental frequencies and intensities of the complexes are computed within the harmonic approximation. Infrared spectroscopy is suggested as a potential useful tool for detection of these HOCO⋯Acid complexes in the laboratory as well as in various planetary atmospheres since complex formation is found to induce large frequency shifts and intensity enhancement of the H-bonded OH stretching fundamental relative to that of the corresponding parent monomers. Finally, the ability of an acid molecule such as formic acid to catalyze the inter-conversion between the cis- and trans-HOCO isomers in the gas phase is also discussed.

Influence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding on OH-stretching overtone intensities and band positions in peroxyacetic acid.

Vapor phase absorption spectra and integrated band intensities of the OH stretching fundamental as well as first and second overtones (2ν(OH) and 3ν(OH)) in peroxyacetic acid (PAA) have been measured using a combination of FT-IR and photoacoustic spectroscopy. In addition, ab initio calculations have been carried out to examine the low energy stable conformers of the molecule. Spectral assignment of the primary features appearing in the region of the 2ν(OH) and 3ν(OH) overtone bands are made with the aid of isotopic substitution and anharmonic vibrational frequency calculations carried out at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level. Apart from features associated with the zeroth-order OH stretch, the overtone spectra are dominated by features assigned to combination bands composed of the respective OH stretching overtone and vibrations involving the collective motion of several atoms in the molecule resulting from excitation of the internal hydrogen bonding coordinate. Integrated absorption cross section measurements reveal that internal hydrogen bonding, the strength of which is estimated to be ∼20 kJ/mol in PAA, does not result in a enhanced oscillator strength for the OH stretching fundamental of the molecule, as is often expected for hydrogen bonded systems, but does cause a precipitous drop in the oscillator strength of its 2ν(OH) and 3ν(OH) overtone bands, reducing them, respectively, by a factor of 165 and 7020 relative to the OH stretching fundamental.

Formic acid catalyzed hydrolysis of SO3 in the gas phase: a barrierless mechanism for sulfuric acid production of potential atmospheric importance.

Computational studies at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd) and MP2/6-311++G(3df,3pd) levels are performed to explore the changes in reaction barrier height for the gas phase hydrolysis of SO(3) to form H(2)SO(4) in the presence of a single formic acid (FA) molecule. For comparison, we have also performed calculations for the reference reaction involving water assisted hydrolysis of SO(3) at the same level. Our results show that the FA assisted hydrolysis of SO(3) to form H(2)SO(4) is effectively a barrierless process. The barrier heights for the isomerization of the SO(3)···H(2)O···FA prereactive collision complex, which is the rate limiting step in the FA assisted hydrolysis, are found to be respectively 0.59 and 0.08 kcal/mol at the B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,3pd) and MP2/6-311++G(3df,3pd) levels. This is substantially lower than the ~7 kcal/mol barrier for the corresponding step in the hydrolysis of SO(3) by two water molecules--which is currently the accepted mechanism for atmospheric sulfuric acid production. Simple kinetic analysis of the relative rates suggests that the reduction in barrier height facilitated by FA, combined with the greater stability of the prereactive SO(3)···H(2)O···FA collision complex compared to SO(3)···H(2)O···H(2)O and the rather plentiful atmospheric abundance of FA, makes the formic acid mediated hydrolysis reaction a potentially important pathway for atmospheric sulfuric acid production.

Spectra and integrated band intensities of the low order OH stretching overtones in peroxyformic acid: an atmospheric molecule with prototypical intramolecular hydrogen bonding.

The gas phase spectra of several vibrational bands of peroxyformic acid (PFA), an atmospheric molecule exhibiting intramolecular hydrogen bonding, are presented. In the fundamental region, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is used to probe the C-O, O-H and C-H stretching vibrations, while in the region of the first and second OH-stretching overtones (2ν(OH) and 3ν(OH)) photoacoustic spectroscopy is used. Integrated absorption cross sections for the PFA vibrational bands are determined by comparing their respective peak areas with that for the OH-stretching bands of n-propanol for which the absorption cross section is known. The measured integrated intensities of the OH stretching bands are then compared with a local mode model using a one-dimensional dipole moment function in conjunction with the OH stretching potential computed at both the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ and CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ levels. The data allow us to investigate changes in the OH stretch band position and intensity as a function of overtone order arising from the influence of hydrogen bonding. Furthermore, calculations at the MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ level show that there are three stable conformers of PFA with relative energies of 0, 13.54, and 13.76 kJ/mol, respectively. In the room temperature spectra, however, we see evidence for transitions from only the lowest energy conformer. The geometrical parameters and vibrational frequencies of the most stable conformer are presented.

The isomerization of methoxy radical: intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer mediated through acid catalysis.

The catalytic ability of water, formic acid, and sulfuric acid to facilitate the isomerization of the CH(3)O radical to CH(2)OH has been studied. It is shown that the activation energies for isomerization are 30.2, 25.7, 4.2, and 2.3 kcal mol(-1), respectively, when the reaction is carried out in isolation and with water, formic acid, or sulfuric acid as a catalyst. The formation of a doubly hydrogen bonded transition state is central to lowering the activation energy and facilitating the intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer that is required for isomerization. The changes in the rate constant for the CH(3)O-to-CH(2)OH isomerization with acid catalysis have also been calculated at 298 K. The largest enhancement in the rate, by over 12 orders of magnitude, is with sulfuric acid. The results of the present study demonstrate the feasibility of acid catalysis of a gas-phase radical isomerization reaction that would otherwise be forbidden.

Rotational contour analysis of jet-cooled methyl hydroperoxide action spectra in the region of the 2nu(OH) and 3nu(OH) bands.

State-selected photodissociation is used to record the partially rotationally resolved action spectra of CH(3)OOH in the region of its first and second OH-stretching overtones (2nu(OH) and 3nu(OH)) under free-jet expansion conditions. From an analysis of the rotational band contours for the OH-stretching states and their corresponding COOH torsion combination bands, effective rotational constants and transition dipole moment orientations are determined for the vibrational eigenstates. The level splitting between the lowest symmetric and antisymmetric pair of COOH torsion levels, 0(+) and 0(-), associated with the 2nu(OH) overtone state is found to be approximately 3.9 cm(-1). Comparison of spectra in the region of the 2nu(OH) and 2nu(OH) + nu(COOH) bands in CH(3)OOH and CD(3)OOH reveals that the spectral features in CH(3)OOH are substantially more perturbed compared to those of its deuterated counterpart, suggesting that modes involving the methyl rotor contribute significantly to promoting intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) in CH(3)OOH. Furthermore, a comparison of the average rotational line widths in both CH(3)OOH and CD(3)OOH for the 2nu(OH) and 2nu(OH) + nu(COOH) bands appears to suggest that at these energies, adding one quanta of low-frequency COOH torsional motion does not enhance the IVR rate relative to that of the pure OH-stretching overtone.