Microhydration effects on a model SN2 reaction in a nonpolar solvent

Abstract

Using a recently developed empirical valence bond model for the nucleophilic substitution reaction (S(N)2) in solution, we examine microhydration effects on the benchmark Cl(-) + CH(3)Cl reaction in liquid chloroform. Specifically, the effect of the hydration of the reactive system by one to five water molecules on the reaction-free energy profile and the rate constant is examined. We find that the activation-free energy is highly sensitive to the number of water molecules hydrating the nucleophile, increasing the barrier by about 4 kcal/mol by the first water molecule. With five water molecules, the barrier height is 10 kcal/mol larger than the barrier in bulk chloroform and only 3 kcal/mol below the barrier in bulk water. A number of properties vary monotonically with the number of water molecules, including the rate of change in the system's electronic structure and the solvent stabilization of the transition state. These and other properties are a rapidly varying function of the reaction coordinate. Deviation from transition state theory due to barrier recrossing is not large and falls between the behavior in bulk water and bulk chloroform.