Theoretical study on the rate constants for the C2H5 + HBr --> C2H6 + Br reaction.

The reaction C(2)H(5) + HBr --> C(2)H(6) + Br has been theoretically studied over the temperature range from 200 to 1400 K. The electronic structure information is calculated at the BHLYP/6-311+G(d,p) and QCISD/6-31+G(d) levels. With the aid of intrinsic reaction coordinate theory, the minimum energy paths (MEPs) are obtained at the both levels, and the energies along the MEP are further refined by performing the single-point calculations at the PMP4(SDTQ)/6-311+G(3df,2p)//BHLYP and QCISD(T)/6-311++G(2df,2pd)//QCISD levels. The calculated ICVT/SCT rate constants are in good agreement with available experimental values, and the calculate results further indicate that the C(2)H(5) + HBr reaction has negative temperature dependence at T < 850 K, but clearly shows positive temperature dependence at T > 850 K. The current work predicts that the kinetic isotope effect for the title reaction is inverse in the temperature range from 200 to 482 K, i.e., k(HBr)/k(DBr) < 1.