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Electronic Structure and Unimolecular Reactions of Cyclopropenone Carbonyl Oxide. A Theoretical Study
Josep Maria Anglada1, Josep Maria Bofill
1Centre d'Insvestigació i Desenvolupament del CSIC, Jordi Girona 18, E-08034 Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain, and Departament de Química Orgànica, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain.
Abstract:
A theoretical investigation on the lowest singlet and triplet potential energy surfaces of cyclopropenone carbonyl oxide 1 is presented. The calculated equilibrium geometry and dipole moment suggest that 1 possesses a strong zwitterionic character. The energy barrier for the isomerization of 1 to the cyclic isomer dioxirane 2 is computed to be 9.4 kcal/mol. The singlet state of 1 dissociates into cyclopropenone and excited singlet oxygen atom ((1)D), while the triplet state of 1 dissociates yielding oxygen atom in its ground state ((3)P). The dissociation process is endothermic for the singlet state but highly exothermic for the triplet.