A combined crossed molecular beams and theoretical study of the reaction CN + C2H4

Abstract

The CN+C2H4 reaction has been investigated experimentally, in crossed molecular beam (CMB) experiments at the collision energy of 33.4kJ/mol, and theoretically, by electronic structure calculations of the relevant potential energy surface and Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus (RRKM) estimates of the product branching ratio. Differently from previous CMB experiments at lower collision energies, but similarly to a high energy study, we have some indication that a second reaction channel is open at this collision energy, the characteristics of which are consistent with the channel leading to CH2CHNC+H. The RRKM estimates using M06L electronic structure calculations qualitatively support the experimental observation of C2H3NC formation at this and at the higher collision energy of 42.7kJ/mol of previous experiments.