Theoretical investigation of the oxidation pathways of the Cl-initiated reaction of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol

Abstract

The mechanism and products of the reaction of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO232) with Cl atoms in the presence of O₂ have been elucidated by performing high-level quantum chemistry calculations. The geometries of the reactants, intermediates, transition states, and products are optimized at the MP2(full)/6-311G(d, p) level, and their single-point energies are refined at the CCSD(T)/6-311 + G(d, p) level. The potential energy surface profiles have been constructed at the CCSD(T)/6-311 + G(d, p)//MP2(full)/6-311G(d, p) + 0.95 × ZPE level of theory, and the possible channels involved in the reaction are also discussed. The calculations indicate that the reaction predominantly proceeds via the addition of Cl atoms to the double bond rather than the direct abstraction of the H atoms in MBO232. The nascent adducts (CH₃)₂C(OH)CHCH₂Cl (IM1) and (CH₃)₂C(OH)CHClCH₂ (IM2) do not undergo subsequent isomerization and dissociation reactions, but rather react with O₂. The theoretical results show that the major products are CH₂ClCHO and CH₃C(O)CH₃ for the reaction of MBO232 + Cl in the presence of O₂, which is in good agreement with the experimental finding.

Keywords:

• 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol
• Cl atoms
• reaction mechanism
• CCSD(T)

Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 20873076) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. Z2008B02).