Theoretical studies on reactions of the stabilized H2COO with HO2 and the HO2···H2O complex.

The reactions of H2COO with HO2 and the HO2···H2O complex are studied by employing the high-level quantum chemical calculations with B3LYP and CCSD(T) theoretical methods, the conventional transition-state theory (CTST), and the Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus (RRKM) with Eckart tunneling correction. The calculated results show that the proton transfer plus the addition reaction channel (TS1A) is preferable for the reaction of H2COO with HO2 because the barriers are −10.8 and 1.6 kcal/mol relative to the free reactants and the prereactive complex, respectively, at the CCSD(T)/6-311++G(3df,2p)//B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. Furthermore, the rate constant via TS1A (2.23 × 10–10 cm3 molecule–1 s–1) combined with the concentrations of the species in the atmosphere demonstrates that the HO2 radical would be the dominant sink of H2COO in some areas, where the concentration of water is less than 1017 molecules cm–3. In addition, although the single water molecule would lower the activated barrier of TS1A fr...