American Chemical Society, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 11(118), p. 2040-2055, 2014
DOI: 10.1021/jp5000864
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The complex relationship of computed rate coefficients (k's) with different ab initio/DFT and TST levels was studied. The MEPs, gradients and Hessians of the title reaction were computed using the MP2 and DFT methods. Electronic energies were improved to the UCCSD(T)-F12x/CBS level and k's were calculated at the TST, CVT and ICVT levels with various tunnelling corrections. While computed microcanonical and tunnelling effects are small, computed kTST values are larger than computed kTST/ZCT and kTST/SCT values by three orders of magnitude at low temperatures, because computed κ(TST/CAG) values are as small as 6x10-4. In some cases, the maximum of the ΔG/s curves at a certain T is far away from the MEP maximum. This raises the question of the range of s to be considered in a VTST calculation and, of a possible scenario, where no maximum on the ΔG curve can be located and hence a breakdown of VTST occurs. For dual level direct dynamics calculations, different entropic contributions from different lower levels can lead to computed k's, which differ by more than one order of magnitude. Matching computed and experimental k values lead to an empirical barrier of 1.34 kcal.mol-1.