Herbert DaCosta & Maohong Fan 
Rate Constant Calculation for Thermal Reactions 
Methods and Applications

Providing an overview of the latest computational approaches to estimate rate constants for thermal reactions, this book addresses the theories behind various first-principle and approximation methods that have emerged in the last twenty years with validation examples. It presents in-depth applications of those theories to a wide range of basic and applied research areas. When doing modeling and simulation of chemical reactions (as in many other cases), one often has to compromise between higher-accuracy/higher-precision approaches (which are usually time-consuming) and approximate/lower-precision approaches (which often has the advantage of speed in providing results). This book covers both approaches. It is augmented by a wide-range of applications of the above methods to fuel combustion, unimolecular and bimolecular reactions, isomerization, polymerization, and to emission control of nitrogen oxides. An excellent resource for academics and industry members in physical chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields.

Table of Content

Preface
Herbert Da Costa and Maohong Fan

Part I. Methods

Chapter 1. Overview of thermochemistry and its application to reaction kinetics
Elke Goos and Alexander Burcat

Chapter 2. Calculation of kinetic data using computational methods
Fernando Cossío

Chapter 3. Quantum instanton evaluation of the kinetic isotope effects and of the temperature dependence of the rate constant
Jirí Vanicek

Chapter 4. Activation energies in computational chemistry – A case study
Michael Busch, Elisabet Ahlberg, and Itai Panas

Chapter 5. No Barrier Theory – a new approach to calculating rate constants in solution
Peter Guthrie

Part II. Mini-Reviews and Applications

Chapter 6. Quantum chemical and rate constant calculations of thermal isomerizations, decompositions, and ring expansions of organic ring compounds
Faina Dubnikova and Assa Lifshitz

Chapter 7. Challenges in the computation of rate constants for lignin model compounds
Ariana Beste and A. C. Buchanan, III

Chapter 8. Quantum chemistry study on the pyrolysis mechanisms of coal-related model compounds
Wang Baojun, Zhang Riguang, and Ling Lixia

Chapter 9. Ab initio kinetic modeling of free-radical polymerization
Michelle L. Coote

Chapter 10. Intermolecular electron transfer reactivity for organic compounds studied using Marcus Cross-Rate Theory
Stephen F. Nelson, and Jack R. Pladziewicz

About the author

Herbert Da Costa is currently a principal consultant at
Chem-Innovations LLC and an adjunct professor of chemistry at
Illinois Central College. His research interests include
environmental catalysis and clean energy, nanomaterial design and
synthesis, computational chemistry, and kinetics.

Maohong Fan is Associate Professor at the University of
Wyoming and an adjunct associate professor at the Georgia Institute
of Technology. His research interests include nanomaterial
synthesis and application, green processes for chemical production,
and new approaches to clean energy generation.