Theoretical Study of Isomerization and Decomposition Reactions of ClONO2

The potential energy surface for the decomposition and isomerization of Chlorine Nitrate（ClONO2）is calculated using the G3 theory. Geometries of related species are optimized at the MP2（ full）/6-31+G（d）and B3LYP/6-31+G（d）level. Vibrational frequencies and IR intensities of ClONO2 have been calculated at the same level. Obtained geometries and vibrational frequencies as well as IR intensities for ClONO2 are in good agreement with experimental values. A new stable stereoisomer is verified by CCSD（T）and QCISD（T）methods at 6-311G （d）basis set. Calculated geometries using above methods for this stereoisomer are in accord with each other. The calculated reaction heat of ClONO2 are also in good agreement with the available data in the literature. Among these reactions of ClONO2，the stereoisomer reaction is the hardest one. The barrier height for this reaction is 481.52 kJ/mol relative to ClONO2 and the reaction is endothermic by 299.85 kJ/mol. On the other hand，among these unimolecular reactions of ClONO2，the decomposition reaction of NO2+ClO is the easiest one. These results indicate that ClONO2 is very stable.