Mechanism and Kinetics of Methane Combustion, Part I: Thermal Rate Constants for Hydrogen-Abstraction Reaction of CH4 + O(3P).

The mechanism and kinetics of gas-phase hydrogen-abstraction by the O(3P) from methane are investigated using ab initio calculations and dynamical methods. Not only are the electronic structure properties including the optimized geometries, relative energies, and vibrational frequencies of all the stationary points obtained from state-averaged complete active space self-consistent field calculations, but also the single-point energies for all points on the intrinsic reaction coordinate are evaluated using the internally contracted multireference configuration interaction approach with modified optimized cc-pCVDZ basis sets. Our calculations give a fairly accurate description of the regions around the 3A″ transition state in the O(3P) attacking a near-collinear H-CH3 direction with a barrier height of 12.53 kcal/mol, which is lower than those reported before. Subsequently, thermal rate constants for this hydrogen-abstraction are calculated using the canonical unified statistical theory method with the temperature ranging from 298 K to 1000 K. These calculated rate constants are in agreement with experiments. The present work reveals the reaction mechanism of hydrogen-abstraction by the O(3P) from methane, and it is helpful for the understanding of methane combustion.