Non-adiabatic transitions in the reaction of fluorine with methane.

Zhao B, Manthe U. Non-adiabatic transitions in the reaction of fluorine with methane. The Journal of chemical physics. 2020;152(23).Reactions of methane with different atoms are benchmark examples of elementary reaction processes intensively studied by theory and experiment. Due to the presence of conical intersections and spin-orbit coupling, non-adiabatic transitions can occur in reactions with F, Cl, or O atoms. Extending detailed quantum theory beyond the Born-Oppenheimer approximation for polyatomic reaction processes, non-adiabatic wave packet dynamics calculations studying the F(2P3/2)/F*(2P1/2) + CHD3 HF + CD3 reaction on accurate vibronically and spin-orbit coupled diabatic potential energy surfaces are presented. Non-adiabatic transitions are found to increase the reactivity compared to Born-Oppenheimer theory and are more prominent than in triatomic reactions previously studied. Furthermore, the lifetimes of reactive resonances are reduced. The reactivity of F(2P3/2) is found to exceed the one of F*(2P1/2) even at low collision energies