Density Functional Theory Investigation of Competitive Free-Radical Processes during the Thermal Cracking of Methylated Polyaromatics: Estimation of Kinetic Parameters

Abstract

Density functional B3LYP and BH&HLYP calculations with the 6-31G** basis set have been performed to investigate elementary reactions playing an important role in the pyrolysis of 1-methylnaphthalene. The pathways describing the destiny of the main radicals, H, methyl, hydromethylnaphthyl and methylnaphthyl, have been studied. At low temperature, addition of H atoms on the aromatic ring is favored over hydrogen abstraction. Except at low temperature (below 400 K), the hydromethylnaphthyl radical undergoes preferentially a loss of hydrogen rather than a bimolecular hydrogen transfer with methylnaphthalene or addition reaction on methylnaphthalene forming a hydrogenated dimer. In the range 400-750 K, the formation of methane by hydrogen abstraction of methyl radical on methylnaphthalene is predominant compared to the formation of hydrodimethylnaphthalenes by addition reaction. Rate constants of reactions describing the formation of heavy products like methyldinaphthylmethanes or dimethylbinaphthalenes have been calculated and discussed. They are also compared to recombination reactions from the literature. Rate constants of these reactions have been computed using transition state theory and can be integrated in kinetic radical schemes of methylated polyaromatic compounds pyrolysis from geological to laboratory conditions.