Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.113, No.42, 11167-11173, 2009
Crossed Molecular Beams Study on the Formation of Vinylacetylene in Titan's Atmosphere
The reaction of ground-state ethynyl radicals, C2H (X-2 Sigma(+)), with d(4)-ethylene, C2D4(X(1)A(g)), was investigated at a collision energy of 20.6 +/- 0.4 kJ mol(-1) utilizing the crossed-beams technique. Combined with electronic structure calculations, our results elucidate that this reaction follows indirect reaction dynamics via a doublet radical complex. The reaction is initiated by a barrierless addition of the ethynyl radical to a carbon atom of the d(4)-ethylene molecule to form a C4HD4 intermediate. The latter is long-lived compared with its rotational period and decomposes via a tight exit transition state to form the d(3)-vinylacetylene product (HCCC2D3) Plus a deuterium atom while conserving the ethynyl group; the center-of-mass angular distribution suggests that the deuterium atom leaves almost perpendicularly to the rotational plane of the fragmenting C4HD4 Complex. The overall reaction is found to be exoergic by 94 +/- 20 kJ mol(-1); this value agrees nicely with a computational data of 103 +/-5 kJ mol(-1). This study indicates that the analogous vinylacetylene molecule (HCCC2H3) can be synthesized in a low-temperature environment such as Titan's atmosphere via the neutral-neutral reaction of ethynyl radicals with ubiquitous ethylene. The similarity between this reaction and that of the isoelectronic cyano radical, CN(X-2 Sigma(+)), with ethylene-yielding vinylcyanide (C2H3CN) is also discussed.