THERMOCHEMISTRY OF HYDROCARBON RADICALS

Abstract

Gas phase negative ion chemistry methods are employed to determine enthalpies of formation of hydrocarbon radicals that are important in combustion processes and to investigate the dynamics of ion-molecule reactions. Using guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometry, we measure collisional threshold energies of endoergic proton transfer and hydrogen atom transfer reactions of hydrocarbon molecules with negative reagent ions. The measured reaction threshold energies for proton transfer yield the relative gas phase acidities. In an alternative methodology, competitive collision-induced dissociation of proton-bound ion-molecule complexes provides accurate gas phase acidities relative to a reference acid. Combined with the electron affinity of the R {center_dot} radical, the gas phase acidity yields the RH bond dissociation energy of the corresponding neutral molecule, or equivalently the enthalpy of formation of the R{center_dot} organic radical, using equation: D(R-H) = {Delta}{sub acid}H(RH) + EA(R) - IE(H). The threshold energy for hydrogen abstraction from a hydrocarbon molecule yields its hydrogen atom affinity relative to the reagent anion, providing the RH bond dissociation energy directly. Electronic structure calculations are used to evaluate the possibility of potential energy barriers or dynamical constrictions along the reaction path, and as input for RRKM and phase space theory calculations. In newer experiments, we have measured the product velocity distributions to obtain additional information on the energetics and dynamics of the reactions.