Abstract
We have examined the influence of water solvent on the Menshutkin reaction of methyl chloride with ammonia by performing static, quantum chemical calculations. We have employed large, explicit, and globally structure-optimized water clusters around the reaction center, in a mixed explicit/implicit solvent model. This approach deliberately deviates from attempts to capture the most likely solvent-molecule distribution around a reaction center. Instead, it explores extremes on the scale of rearrangement speed in terms of the surrounding solvent cluster, relative to the reaction progress itself. A comparison to traditional theoretical and experimental results enables us to quantify the energy penalty that is induced by the inability of the water cluster to instantaneously and completely follow the reaction progress. In addition, the influence of water clusters on the reaction energy profile can be much larger than merely changing it somewhat. Certain clusters can completely annihilate the sizeable activation barrier of 23.5 kcal mol(-1).
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