Ab initio molecular orbital study of the HCO+O2 reaction: Direct versus indirect abstraction channels

Abstract

The reaction of HCO with O2 has been studied by ab initio molecular orbital and statistical theory calculations. Both the direct abstraction and the association–elimination processes have been considered. The direct abstraction of H by O2 producing the HO2+CO products was found to be unimportant below 2000 K. The association reaction occurs by the attack of O2 at the C atom to form a vibrationally excited complex, HC(O)OO°, which can undergo two reactions. The first possibility is H migration via TS2 forming HOOCO, which rapidly dissociates into either OH+CO2 via TS4 or HO2+CO via TS3; the latter is energetically less favorable. The second possibility is the direct production of HO2+CO from HC(O)OO° via TS5 in a concerted manner. The barrier of TS5 at the G2M level of theory is 23.5 kcal/mol relative to HC(O)OO; this is the major channel for the reaction. Variational transition state theory and Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus calculations have been carried out for the direct abstraction and the indirect metathetical mechanisms, respectively. The calculated total rate constant at 1.5 Torr exhibits a small positive activation energy and its absolute values agree closely with experimental data.