Experimental and theoretical study of the reaction of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol with Mu

Abstract

Abstract The reaction of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO) with Mu was investigated for the first time. The free-radical addition products of reactions with Mu are characterized by a combination of transverse field-μSR (TF-μSR) and level crossing resonance (LCR) methods. Density functional theory calculations were also performed to obtain optimized structures of the reactants, transition states and products. The activation energies, energies of reactions and hyperfine coupling constants were calculated and used to characterize the formed radicals. Quantum calculations of the energetics of the Mu+MBO reaction in the gas-phase predicted reaction energies of −15.6 and −19.0 kcal mol −1 , with addition to the terminal carbon predicted to be favoured.