Unimolecular HBr and HF Elimination Reactions of Vibrationally Excited C₂H₅CH₂Br and C₂D₅CHFBr: Identification of the 1,1-HBr Elimination Reaction from C₂D₅CHFBr and Search for the C₂D₅(F)C:HBr Adduct

Abstract

Chemical activation experiments and computational methods have been used to study the unimolecular reactions of C2H5CH2Br and C2D5CHFBr with 90 and 93 kcal mol–1 of vibrational energy, respectively. The four-centered elimination reactions of HBr and DBr are the dominant reactions; however, 2,1-DF, 1,1-HBr, and 1,1-HF reactions are also observed from C2D5CHFBr. The main focus was to search for the role of the C2D5(F)­C:HBr adduct in the 1,1-HBr elimination for comparison with carbene adducts in 1,1-HX­(Y) elimination from RCHXY (X,Y = Cl and F) molecules. Models of transition states and molecules from electronic structure calculations were used in statistical calculations of the rate constants to assign threshold energies for each reaction based on the experimental rate constants. The threshold energy for 2,1-HBr elimination from 1-bromopropane is 50 kcal mol–1, which is in basic agreement with thermal activation experiments. Comparison of the 2,1-DBr and 2,1-HBr rate constants permits discussion of the kinetic isotope effects and the effect of F atom substitution on the threshold energy for 2,1-HBr elimination. Although CD3CDCDF from 1,1-HBr elimination of C2D5CHFBr followed by D atom migration is an experimentally observed product, dissociation of the C2D5(F)­C:HBr adduct may be the rate-limiting step rather than crossing the barrier associated with the transition state for 1,1-HBr elimination. The calculated dissociation energies of C2H5(X)­C:HF adducts are 9.9, 9.3, and 9.0 kcal mol–1 for X = F, Cl, and Br, and the values for C2H5(F)­C:HX are 9.9, 6.4, and ∼4.9 kcal mol–1.