A DFT study of the unimolecular decomposition of 1,2,4-butanetriol trinitrate.
To improve understanding of the unimolecular decomposition mechanism of 1,2,4-butanetriol trinitrate (BTTN) in the gas phase, density functional theory calculations were performed to determine various decomposition pathways at the B3LYP/6-311G** level. Two main mechanisms for the unimolecular decomposition of BTTN were found. In the first, homolysis of one of the O-NO2 bonds occurs to form •NO2 and CH2ONO2CHONO2CH2CH2O•, which subsequently decomposes to form CH3CHO + •CHO + 3NO2 + HCHO. In the second, successive HONO elimination reactions yield three HONO and OHCCH2CHONO2CH2ONO2 fragments, which subsequently decompose to form CH3CHO + 2CO + 3HONO. We also found that the first pathway has a slightly lower activation energy than the second. The results show that the pathway involving O-NO2 cleavage is slightly more energetically favorable than that involving HONO elimination.
Institute for Computation in Molecular and Materials Science and Department of Chemistry, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China, zhuwh@mail.njust.edu.cn.
Weihua
W
Zhu
Qingli
Q
Yan
Aimin
A
Pang
Xuehui
X
Chi
Xijuan
X
Du
Heming
H
Xiao
D000440:Butanols / Q000737:chemistry*; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013816:Thermodynamics
D000440:Butanols; D005740:Gases; C114589:1,3,4-butanetriol