Time-resolved studies of germylene,
GeH2, generated
by laser flash photolysis of 3,4-dimethyl-1-germacyclopent-3-ene at
193 nm, have been carried out to obtain rate constants for its bimolecular
reaction with SO2. The reaction was studied in the gas
phase, mainly at a total pressure of 10 Torr (in SF6 bath
gas) at five temperatures in the range 295–553 K. Pressure
variation measurements over the range 1–100 Torr (SF6) at 295, 408, and 553 K revealed no pressure dependence. The second-order
rate constants at 10 Torr (SF6 bath gas) fit the Arrhenius
equation log(k/cm3 molecule–1 s–1) = (−11.01 ± 0.09) + (4.62 ±
0.65 kJ mol–1)/RT ln 10, where
the uncertainties are single standard deviations. The collisional
efficiency is 19% at 298 K, and in kinetic terms the reaction resembles
that of SiH2 with SO2 quite closely. Quantum
chemical calculations at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pvQZ level suggest a mechanism
occurring via the initial addition of GeH2 to one O atom
of SO2 to form H2GeOSO which, via a 1,3-H shift
followed by a cyclization, leads to a four-membered-ring species,
cyclo-HGeO2SH(cis)–. A low-energy H2 elimination
results in the formation of cyclo-GeO2S, a hitherto unknown
compound. A number of other species on the enthalpy surface have been
identified, including the novel Ge(OH)2···S,
a cyclic five-membered ring comprising an S atom stabilized by dihydroxygermylene.
However, none of these other molecules seem to be involved as intermediates
in this reaction, either because barriers to their formation or rearrangement
are too high or because their enthalpies are insufficiently negative
for them to be collisionally stabilized under experimental conditions.
The reaction is compared and contrasted with that of SiH2 + SO2.