Towards a converged barrier height for the entrance channel transition state of the N(2D)+CH4 reaction and its implication for the chemistry in Titan’s atmosphere

Abstract The N( 2 D) + CH 4 reaction appears to be a key reaction for the chemistry of Titan’s atmosphere, opening the door to nitrile formation as recently observed by the Cassini–Huygens mission. Faced to the controversy concerning the existence or not of a potential barrier for this reaction, we have carried out accurate ab initio calculations by means of multi-state multi-reference configuration interaction (MS-MR-SDCI) method. These calculations have been partially corrected for the size-consistency errors (SCE) by Davidson, Pople or AQCC corrections. We suggest a barrier height of 3.86 ± 0.84 kJ/mol, including ZPE, for the entrance transition state, in good agreement with the experime…

Dipole Moment Surface of the van der Waals Complex CH4–N2

The interaction-induced dipole moment surface of the van der Waals CH(4)-N(2) complex has been calculated for a broad range of intermolecular separations R and configurations in the approximation of the rigid interacting molecules at the MP2 and CCSD(T) levels of theory using the correlation-consistent aug-cc-pVTZ basis set with the basis set superposition error correction. The simple model to account for the exchange effects in the range of small overlap of the electron shells of interacting molecules and the induction and dispersion interactions for large R has been suggested. This model allows describing the dipole moment of van der Waals complexes in analytical form both for large R, wh…

Theoretical investigation of the potential energy surface of the van der Waals complex CH4-N-2

International audience; The interaction potential energy surface of the van der Waals CH4-N-2 complex has been calculated for a broad range of intermolecular separations and configurations in the approximation of rigid interacting molecules at the CCSD(T) and MP2 levels of theory using the correlation consistent aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. The BSSE correction was taken into account for all the calculations. The most stable configurations of the complex were found. Binding energies were calculated in the CBS limit with accounting for the molecular deformations. The harmonic and anharmonic fundamental vibrational frequencies and rotational constants for the ground and first excited vibrational sta…

Applications of Quantum Chemistry in Spectroscopy: Molecules, Complexes of Van der Waals, trapped Molecules

I described in this memory my activities as a researcher at Tomsk well before 2003, in succession to the State University of Tomsk in the Faculty of Physics, Institute of Physics of Siberia, and the Institute of 'Atmospheric Optics, in France since then, mostly at the University of Bourgogne (ICB), but also at the University of Lille I (PhLAM) and the University of Marne-la-Vallée (LCT). Part of my work has been dedicated to the evaluation by calculating ab initio of rovibrational constants for quasi-spherical molecules. The centrifugal distortion constants and the dipole moment of the molecule SO2F2 were calculated to validate the tensor theory and interpreter the spectrum. I twas shown th…

Transition state theory thermal rate constants and RRKM-based branching ratios for the N((2)D) + CH(4) reaction based on multi-state and multi-reference ab initio calculations of interest for the Titan's chemistry.

International audience; Multireference single and double configuration interaction (MRCI) calculations including Davidson (+Q) or Pople (+P) corrections have been conducted in this work for the reactants, products, and extrema of the doublet ground state potential energy surface involved in the N(2D) + CH4 reaction. Such highly correlated ab initio calculations are then compared with previous PMP4, CCSD(T), W1, and DFT/B3LYP studies. Large relative differences are observed in particular for the transition state in the entrance channel resolving the disagreement between previous ab initio calculations. We confirm the existence of a small but positive potential barrier (3.86 +/- 0.84 kJ mol-1…

Stark Spectrum Simulation of X2Y4 Asymmetric Molecules: Application to Ethylene in a MFI-Type Host Zeolithe

Simulation du Spectre Stark des Molécules X2Y4 : Application à l'Ethylène dans les Zéolithes

Weakly Bound van der Waals Complex CH4–N2: Structure, Stability, Static Polarisability

Theoretical Investigation of the Etylene Dimer: Interaction Energy and Dipole Moment