A quantum reaction dynamics study of the translational, vibrational, and rotational motion effects on the HD + H3+ reaction.

Time-dependent, quantum reaction dynamics wavepacket approach is employed to investigate the impacts of the translational, vibrational, and rotational motion on the HD+H(3)(+) → H(2)D(+) + H(2) reaction using the Xie-Braams-Bowman potential energy surface [Z. Xie, B. J. Braams, and J. M. Bowman, J. Chem. Phys. 122, 224307 (2005)]. We treat this five atom reaction with a seven-degree-of-freedom model by fixing one Jacobi and one torsion angle related to H(3) (+) at the lowest saddle point geometry of the potential energy surface. The initial state selected reaction probabilities show that the rotational excitations of H(+)-H(2) greatly enhance the reactivity with the reaction probabilities increased double at high rotational states compared to the ground state. However, the vibrational excitations of H(3) (+) hinder the reactivity. The ground state reaction probability shows no reaction threshold for this exoergic reaction, and as the translational energy increases, the reaction probability decreases. Furthermore, reactive resonances and zero point energy play very important roles on the reaction dynamics. The obtained integral cross section has the character of an exoergic reaction without a threshold: it decreases with the translational energy increasing. The calculated thermal rate constants using this seven-degree-of-freedom model are in agreement with a later experiment measurement.