Nature of the Transition Structure for Alkene Epoxidation by Peroxyformic Acid, Dioxirane, and Dimethyldioxirane: A Comparison of B3LYP Density Functional Theory with Higher Computational Levels

Abstract

The performance of the B3LYP density functional theory calculations has been studied for the epoxidation reactions of ethylene, propene, and cis- and trans-2-butene with peroxyformic acid and of ethylene with dioxirane and dimethyldioxirane. The transition structures for the epoxidation of ethylene and propene with peroxyformic acid and of ethylene with dioxirane and dimethyldioxirane calculated at the B3LYP level as well as at the QCISD and CCSD levels are symmetrical with nearly identical C−O bond distances, whereas the MP2 calculations favor unsymmetrical transition structures. The geometrical parameters of the transition structures calculated using the B3LYP functional are close to those found at the QCISD and CCSD levels. While the activation barriers for the epoxidation reactions calculated at the B3LYP/6-31G* and B3LYP/6-31+G* levels are very close to the MP4SDTQ/6-31G*//MP2/6-31G* and MP2/6-31G*//MP2/6-31G* values, these activation energies are systematically lower (up to 5−6 kcal/mol) than the ba...