Ab initio molecular dynamics study of aqueous formaldehyde and methanediol

Abstract

The solvation shell of aqueous formaldehyde has been studied by ab initio molecular dynamics. Two different DFT approaches using BLYP and PBE functionals were explored. The results show only a slightly different mobility in the solvation shells and allow characterization of the hydrogen bonded structure with a H2C = O··HOH hydrogen bond lifetime of ca. 3 ps. Formaldehyde hydrolysis was studied by following the reverse process, methanediol decomposition, by Blue Moon constrained MD showing that four water molecules are directly involved in the reaction and assisted by the whole hydration shell. The total energy of the aqueous methanediol to formaldehyde inter-conversion process is calculated with a barrier height of ca. 95 kJ mol−1 while the corresponding free energy barrier is only ΔG‡ = 46 kJ mol−1 at 300 K.