A g ) have been investigated with density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-311G(2d,p) level. Calculations including geometry optimization, vibrational analysis, and Gibbs free energy for the stationary points on the reactive potential energy surfaces at both the singlet (s) and first excited triplet (t) electronic states have been carried out. The most thermodynamically and kinetically favorable pathway is the formation of t-V(OH) 2 + + C 2 H 4 along a four-step molecular mechanism (insertion, two consecutive hydrogen transfers, and elimination). A crossing point between s and t electronic states has been characterized. A comparison with previous works on VO 2 + + C 2 H 4 (Gracia et al.