The decisive role of pericyclic reactions in the thermal decomposition of organophosphorus compounds

Abstract

The understanding of the thermal decomposition chemistry of chemical warfare nerve agents is largely limited by the scarcity of kinetic data. Because of the high toxicity of these molecules, experimental determination of their chemical properties is very difficult. In the present work, a comprehensive detailed kinetic model for the decomposition of sarin and some simulants, i.e. di-isopropyl methyl phosphonate (DIMP), diethyl methylphosphonate (DEMP), and triethyl phosphate (TEP) were developed, containing possible molecular and radical pathways. The importance of unimolecular pericyclic decomposition led to evaluate precisely the rate constants of these reactions with high level theoretical calculations. The QCISD(T)/cc-PV∞QZ//B2PLYPD3/6–311+G(2d,d,p) level of theory was selected after a benchmark. The contribution of hindered rotors was included with the 1D-HR-U approach. Tunneling was taken into account for H-atom transfer. Transition state theory was used to calculate high-pressure limit rate constants and pressure dependent rate constants were calculated using Master Equation modeling. The model was validated against experimental pyrolysis and oxidation experimental data available in literature. Flux analyses showed that whatever the conditions are, the first step of decomposition of the studied phosphorus compounds are pericyclic eliminations leading to successive decompositions, whereas bond-breaking or H-atom abstraction remain negligible, even at high temperature.