Quantum mechanical capture/phase space theory calculation of the rate constants for the complex-forming CH + H(2) reaction.

Six-dimensional wave packet calculations on an accurate potential energy surface are used to obtain the quantum mechanical capture (QM C) probabilities for CH + H(2) corresponding to a variety of total angular momenta and internal reactant states. Rate constant calculations are made feasible by employing a Monte Carlo based sampling procedure. The QM C probabilities alone are also used to estimate the high pressure CH + H(2) rate constants corresponding to stabilization or CH(3) formation. The rate constants for CH + H(2) --> CH(2) + H reaction in the low pressure limit are obtained by combining the QM C probabilities with a phase space theory (PST) approximation for product formation from the complex. Our results are compared with the experimental results of Brownsword et al. (J. Chem. Phys. 1997, 106, 7662), as well as with purely classical PST calculations. The QM C probabilities are shown to be highly dependent on the initial rotational states of the reactants corresponding to orientational restrictions on complex formation. Consistent with this, our QM C high pressure rate constants for CH(3) formation are lower than the purely classical PST rate constants. These QM C rate constants also are in reasonable accord with experiment. A similar but somewhat more subtle picture emerges regarding the QM C/PST rate constants for CH(2) + H formation.