CONSTRUCTION OF A GLOBAL POTENTIAL ENERGY SURFACE FROM NOVEL AB INITIO MOLECULAR DYNAMICS FOR THE O(3P) + C3H3 REACTION
We present a global potential energy surface (PES) for the 2 A state of the O (3 P ) + C 3 H 3 radical reaction. The global PES is constructed mainly using direct ab initio molecular dynamics and further sampling is done using the Diffusion Monte Carlo method. The potential is fully invariant with respect to permutational symmetry of like atoms. Special techniques, based on invariant theory of finite groups, have been used to develop basis functions for fitting that display this symmetry. The resultant potential energy surface shows multiple reaction paths with six different product channels. The products of the reactions are CO + C 2 H 3 radicals H + C 3 H 2 O radicals (with two isomers, propynal and propa-1,2-dien-1-one) and OH + C 3 H 2 radicals (with three isomers, vinylidenecarbene, propargylene and cyclopropenylidene). Energies of the PES are in excellent agreement with ab initio energies for each stationary point, the reactants and the products. Most stationary points are fitted at the sub Kcal/mol level. The global potential surface represents all the stationary points and six different product channels correctly. Preliminary dynamics calculations show abstraction and insertion mechanisms for the OH + vinylidenecarbene channel and the H + propynal channel, respectively.