Reactions of C(1D) with H2 and its deuterated isotopomers, a wave packet study

Using a Chebyshev wave packet method, total and state-resolved reaction probabilities (J=0) were calculated for the reactions of C(D-1) with various hydrogen isotopomers (H-2, D-2, and HD, nu(i)=0, j(i)=0) on a recent ab initio potential energy surface. For all the isotopic variants, it was found that the initial state specified reaction probabilities have no energy threshold and are strongly oscillatory, indicative of the involvement of long-lived resonances in this barrierless reaction. The J=0 product vibrational and rotational distributions for all three isotopic reactions, and the CH/CD branching ratio for the C+HD reaction, show strong dependence on the collision energy, further underscoring the important role played by the resonances. The generally decaying vibrational distributions and highly excited rotational distributions, which corroborate an insertion mechanism, and the dominance of the CD+H channel in the C+HD reaction are consistent with existing experimental observations. Initial state specified.-integral cross sections and rate constants were estimated using a capture model. The estimated rate constants were found to be close and in the order k(HD)>k(H 2)>k(D 2). Finally, a method to calculate branching ratio in the C+HD reaction is proposed. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.